Prelude To Love
by Gosangoku
Summary: Everybody knows Uzumaki Naruto. But what if he wasn't who everyone thought he was? What if he was leading a double-life? Just how much has he been hiding? And how long can it remain a secret?
1. Prologue: Last Smile

Epilogue

**Epilogue**

A lonely blond trailed along a winding forest path. He held his bleeding arm as he trudged his way passed the dead and mangled bodies of his fallen comrades. His once azure eyes were a blank stormy colour. He was covered in his teacher's blood. The only thing he could hear was his own footsteps crunching through the gravel as he tried to withstand the terrible silence.

He tried to even out his ragged breathing, as it was only coming out in harsh and hasty gasps. He felt more crystal tears prick at his stormy sapphire orbs and let them fall freely. He felt freezing and callous raindrops cascade ruthlessly upon his ivory skin. He shuffled on weakly and blindly. Black spots reined his eyesight and he desperately fought to keep consciousness. He continued hobbling.

When he reached Konohagakure No Sato's gates, he fought inwardly to keep walking. The guard's at the gates seemed mildly astonished to see him in such a state and the villager's avoided him – it wasn't unusual – but they sent his cold and unforgiving stares. Thanks to his teacher, Hoshiko-sensei, he understood why they detested him so.

He was the Jinchuuriki Kyuubi's Bijuu. He was the container of an evil beast. He didn't understand why they had to let the monster inside him harsh their judgements of him. He had always wondered what his life would have been like if it weren't for Kyuubi. Hoshiko-sensei had informed him of everything that had happened that fateful night; he didn't believe the truth should have been kept from the blond: he had more of a right to know than anyone.

The blond felt more crystal tears fall steadily and thickly down his bloodied skin. He had loved Hoshiko-sensei like an elder brother. He could just picture the man popping up in front of him, laughing as loud as anything and saying how good a prank he just pulled. The blond sighed dejectedly. He knew Hoshiko-sensei wouldn't come out now. He was gone forever; just like everyone else who cared about the sapphire-eyed seven years old.

His gaze arose from the concrete floor up to the sky. The rain cascaded heavily upon the town, soaking everything vastly within what was most probably a fifty mile radius. He couldn't stop the flowing tears. He could just see Hoshiko-sensei's face; his exuberant turquoise eyes glistening with seriousness and professionalism, yet with a large hint of unruly mischief. His snowy white hair tied up in a tight ponytail on his head swishing madly. Naruto felt slight contentment rembering that he used to try and play with that ponytail. Once he had fallen off a fence and cried, but Hoshiko-sensei had held him and helped him recover.

More tears were spilt. "Hoshiko-sensei," he whispered, "You were the only person in this world who understood me. You promised that you'd never leave me alone again. Y—you lied to me…" he paused and closed his sapphire orbs, "No, you didn't. I'm so sorry, sensei. I'm just so lonely now." He alleged. He let the tiniest of smiles grace his delicate lips as tears fell solemnly.

And those were his last tears and last smile.


	2. First Impressions

Epilogue

"Our sensei is the last one to arrive!" Naruto was brought out of his stupor by is female team-mate. He blinked and surveyed the scene. _That was a close one_, he thought, _I hope neither of them noticed my silence…_ he took in the rosette's features. She appeared to be far too obsessed with catching Sasuke's attention than noticing Naruto's strange behaviour. The raven was just staring blankly forward, blatantly ignoring the girl. "Honestly, why do we have to have the teacher who is late?" she sighed dramatically and slumped against a table in defeat.

Naruto stood. _I suppose it's time to play the part of 'idiot'._ He thought, inwardly berating himself for lowering himself to such childish and immature behaviour. He carelessly bounded over to the door, snickering as he placed an eraser on top of it. "What are you doing, Naruto?" Sakura's shrill voice asked incredulously, "Surely our sensei won't fall for your trivial tricks, idiot! Take that down this instant!" inwardly, she was enjoying the little prank, but she didn't want Sasuke to think she was juvenile. Naruto turned to face her, sporting a huge fake grin.

"C'mon, Sakura-chan!" he shouted, "Wait 'til he comes in and it falls on his head! It'll be hilarious!" he declared, giggling to himself. Sasuke closed his eyes, mild aggravation sinking in. He didn't comprehend the blonde's foolish attitude. What cruel twist of fate made it so he – the top rookie in their class – was put into a team with Uzumaki Naruto – the dead last rookie in their class. He was disgusted that he was forced to be his associate. He felt it utterly despicable. Shinobi's were supposed to be sophisticated and established to the fields of Ninja Art. They were meant to be refined and powerful. The blond wasn't any of those things. He'd never acted so immature since he was diminutive.

_Four-year-old Naruto giggled as he dashed through the streets, carrying a bucket of paint in each hand. He earned fierce glares from passers-by, but they mostly avoided him. He grinned shamelessly, although he disliked all of the nastiness directed at him. "Get back here, bozu!" a Chūnin called after him. Naruto's amusement increased, until he bumped into someone. His paint cans went flying and one landed on his head. Blue paint dribbled down his face onto his shirt._

"Eh?" the blond yelled, sounding utterly confused and outraged. "What was that for?" he yelled, grabbing the bucket and trying to yank it off, but to no avail. A man leant down, his turquoise eyes glimmering in dismay. He pulled the bucket off of Naruto's head, but kept his glare firm despite how comical the blond looked covered in blue paint. The blond blinked nervously, "Oh," he said, "Um… Hi, Hoshiko-sensei…" he waved feebly. The white-haired man scowled deeply.

"Naruto, what you did was extremely disrespectful. You can get into a lot of trouble for that," he lectured. Naruto dipped his head in shame, "And you made me so worried!" the blond blinked in surprise and lifted his head, looking astonished. "I was so scared you'd hurt yourself, Naruto. Don't ever do that again," He demanded firmly. Naruto just nodded numbly. Hoshiko-sensei let a small smile slip onto his face now. "Now, let's get you cleaned up." He lifted the blond into his arms.

"B—but you'll get covered in paint, too." The blue-eyed toddler insisted.

"Aw, I don't mind."

"Hoshiko-sensei?"

"What is it, Naruto?"

"You were worried about me?"

"Yes," he whispered, "I really was."

"Naruto, wake up!" the rosette shouted sternly. Naruto blinked a few times in confusion, and then tensed up and backed away apprehensively. He disliked getting close to people, and the girl was right in front of him. Oblivious to her team-mate's discontent, she sighed and placed her hands on her hips, glaring viciously. "Don't get sidetracked! Our sensei has arrived, and thanks to your eraser—" the blond inwardly groaned in utter dismay and annoyance, but forced a hearty round of rambunctious laughter for show.

"No way! I actually got him? Some Jounin he is!" he forced out, apologising to Hoshiko-sensei in his mind for his blatant rudeness. The hoary-haired instructor didn't seem fazed. He lowered his orange book and kept a calm and tranquil, laidback expression on his masked face.

"My first impression," he began, "I hate you all." Naruto knew he wasn't really serious, but the word 'hate' made him tense visibly. Sasuke noticed and narrowed his eyes in a scrutinizing manner. The blond recovered quicker than expected, and Sasuke suppressed his astonishment. Naruto's eyes weren't filled with mischief and troublemaking, but they seemed to burn with intense maturity. He couldn't tear his gaze away, until the blond shifted uncomfortably, and the raven knew that the smaller boy noticed he was staring. He withdrew his gaze hesitantly. "Let's go up to the roof. Don't contradict me," he added when he noticed the blond open his mouth, "Just so as I say."

O—o—O—o—O

Team seven sat on the roof, analysing their teacher. The silver-haired Jounin lowered his book and stared blankly at them. "Introduce yourselves," he ordered blatantly. Sakura furrowed her brow in mild confusion.

"But Sensei, shouldn't you go first?" she suggested eagerly. Naruto backed her up loudly, and a silent glare from Sasuke showed that he couldn't care less. Their teacher sighed in defeat and put down his book.

"All right," he said, "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like a lot of things, dislike a few things. I have lots of hobbies, and my dream?" he paused dramatically, "I've never really thought about it." He murmured. Naruto and Sakura deadpanned in dismay. "Now you," he pointed to Sakura. The female grinned.

"I am Haruno Sakura. I like…" she spared a glance at Sasuke and giggled, "I have lots of hobbies, including…" yet another glance at the raven, "Ahem… My dream is to…" Naruto grew sick of her obsession with the brooding Uchiha. Honestly, did all kunoichi have strange obsessions with boys? "And I hate Naruto." She gestured to the blond, who in return didn't object, just sat there, appearing unfazed. Kakashi motioned for Sasuke to speak.

"I am Uchiha Sasuke," he muttered darkly, "I dislike a lot of things, and I like very few. I don't have hobbies. I don't have a dream," he paused, "It's more of an ambition: to kill a certain someone." He narrowed his steely eyes and glowered at nothing in particular. Sakura fawned over his handsomeness, whilst Naruto continued blatantly ignoring their idiocy. Kakashi turned to the blond expectantly.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," he mumbled, "I like stuff, dislike things, I have lots of hobbies, and my dream is dead." He stated emotionlessly. The team blinked in surprise and stared at him.

"You didn't give us much information about yourself," Kakashi stated.

"Neither did you, Sensei," he ground the word out as if it were disgusting. The three other members of the team were astonished at his obvious change in behaviour.

"Naruto," Sakura began shakily, but grew firm, "Such blatant disrespect is despicable! You should show proper respect for—" she stopped when azure eyes turned to her. Nothing was evident in them; he held no emotions. His eyes were blanker than Sasuke's. She almost thought he was going to murder her right there. Her parents had warned her that he was evil.

"Ah, you're right, Sakura-chan!" the boy cheered joyously, "I'm sorry, sensei!" he forced a stupid grin. The rosette and raven studied him further, expectant. Kakashi recovered from his trance.

"Well," he said, pocketing his book, "Meet up tomorrow at the training grounds at four in the morning. Don't bother eating—you'll only be ill. Ja!" with that, he left. The blond stared intensely at the spot he once stood, once again with no emotion spread over his sun-kissed face. Both of his team-mates noticed him clench his fists hard enough to draw blood.

"Naruto?" Sakura whispered uncertainly. The blond jumped in shock and turned to her, smiling apologetically. "Are you alright?" she asked, more firmly now. The whiskered boy nodded vigorously and waved.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay! Dattebayo! I'll see you guys tomorrow! And eat breakfast." He advised, perching atop the side of the tall building.

"But Kakashi-sensei told us—" Sakura began.

"He was lying. You may think I'm stupid, but trust me on this—you need to eat." His tone was so serious that Sasuke and Sakura blinked in surprise. When their eyes opened; the small boy was gone. Silence ensued for a few moments, and then Sasuke turned away to leave. Sakura blinked and turned toward him.

"Sasuke-kun, do you want to—?"

"No." And he was gone, leaving a distraught emerald-eyed kunoichi standing alone.

O—o—O—o—O

Sasuke remained motionless as he leant against the side of the bridge with his usual callously uncaring expression. Sakura leant over the other side, watching the beautiful clear azure water flow serenely down the sinuously elegant stream beneath the bridge they perched on. Her rose-coloured hair draped over her shoulders as she surveyed her reflection in the water. When she heard bounding footsteps nearing them, she looked up. Their blond team-mate approached, grinning broadly.

"Morning, Sakura-chan," he greeted happily, "Sasuke." He nodded. Sasuke opened his coal eyes, but did nothing else to show that he had acknowledged the other boys' polite greeting. The kunoichi forced a small smile to her lips, but it quickly subsided into a frown when she noticed how pale he looked. He had dark circles underneath his eyes and had scrapes covering his face.

"What happened to you, Naruto?" she enquired. The blond stiffened and took a defensive stance, scowling lightly. She blinked in bewilderment. She leant out to touch his arm, but he shied away from the touch as if he were burnt. "Naruto?" she repeated. The awkwardness subsided as a puff of smoke erupted behind them. It washed away hastily to reveal their teacher, nose planted in his book, but his free hand up in a peace sign.

"Yo," he greeted. He didn't even look at his students, merely continued reading. Sakura was about to voice her concerns about Naruto's current condition, but the blond beat her to speaking.

"Sensei," he said, "What's our test, then? It had better be worth skipping breakfast! I'm ravenous!" he forced a whine to his voice. Sasuke and Sakura blanched in confusion, dismay etched on their faces. The blond was the one who had informed them yesterday to eat, and he wasn't taking the credit? This wasn't the Naruto they know. Kakashi stood leisurely, opening his left hand to reveal two clinging bells that chimed as they whacked against each other.

"You three," the man paused dramatically for effect. Sasuke and Sakura tensed in alight anticipation, whilst Naruto stared blankly, groaning inwardly: the bell test; how utterly jovial. The man continued, oblivious to the small boys' thoughts, "Are going to take these two bells from me."

"B—but there are only two," Sakura observed: voicing her confusion, "There are three of us. That means…" she trailed off uncertainly, leaving her statement open for an answer provided from their instructor. Naruto closed his eyes and crossed his arms, awaiting the order. He had done that exorcise with Hoshiko-sensei years ago. The raven noticed the lithe boys' bored and serenely darkened expression and frowned. He stared a moment longer, but turned away swiftly when the blond opened his eyes, obviously knowing he had been watching the entire time.

"Only two of you can pass, correct," Kakashi finished blatantly. "I'll go all-out against you to protect the bells, and you do the same to get them off of me." He smiled again. Naruto fumed inwardly. How he detested that carefree, smug smile. He reminded him of someone, but he just couldn't place him. He shrugged inwardly, but kept his eyes on the prize. "Begin," the three preteens disappeared at the same exact time, hiding safely within the foliage. Naruto rubbed his temples in frustration.

"Idiots," he grumbled to himself, "Don't they comprehend? Honestly, it's too simple. I had to do it _alone_, and now I have people to help; they just hop off anywhere they feel like." He ranted, glowering fiercely at the muddy ground beneath his scratched sandals.

"Got you," Kakashi said from behind. He placed a hand on the boys' shoulder, and it transformed into a log with a sloppy face drawn crudely upon it. He blinked in mild surprise – he had no idea that the bottom of the class in the academy could do anything, especially replacement jutsu's, which were so solid as well. He raised a brow and shrugged. "Beginners luck, I suppose," he mused, trailing off to surprise the other two Genin. Naruto scowled from within the bushes.

"Think, Naruto," he ordered himself. A light bulb shone brightly above his exuberant golden locks. "Ah, I've got it!" he said. He made two full kage bunshin's and made them look like Sakura and Sasuke. Kakashi would never be able to tell the different – until Naruto's chakra ran low. That would most likely take at-least a week though. The blond closed his eyes and listened intently. He heard breathing, and went in that direction. Sakura was about to faint at seeing Sasuke's head poking out of the ground. "Hmm," he murmured thoughtfully, "That look suits you, Uchiha," he grinned.

"Dobe," Sasuke snapped, "Get me out of here, as it seems our female companion cannot do so." He closed his coal eyes, still glowering. Sakura took a step backwards, looking extremely hurt. Naruto sighed and resisted the urge to rub his temples and use a jutsu to soak them both.

"Haruno—Sakura, stop obsessing over Uchiha," he turned to Sasuke, glaring darkly, "Uchiha-teme, stop being a brat and get a life that doesn't consist of hurting others for your own benefit." They both stared silently at him, one scowling fiercely, and the other staring wide-eyed and dismayed. "You fools," he began. They were about to interrupt, but the stern look in the azure eyes stopped them, "Don't you understand the purpose of this test? We are supposed to help each other. If we don't; how can we ever be a team? Use your heads for once."

"W—well," Sakura objected weakly, finding no flaws in what the blond had stated, "What about us, then? Kakashi-sensei will find us hastily enough: he's a Jounin! He could be waiting to pounce on us right this moment, and you're just lecturing us for being careless?"

"No," the blond said, "First of all; I made two clones to resemble you two. He just went after you after I used a replacement jutsu on him. He can't tell the difference between you two and the clones; they have your exact chakra resolves and abilities. Secondly, I'm not lecturing you for being careless, I'm lecturing you for being tactless and senseless. Put more thought into things – see beneath the beneath. He told us that; follow his advice. Now, I've got a plan,"

O—o—O—o—O

Kakashi stood motionless in the training grounds, still reading his perverted book. The chilling breeze was soothing and calming, and he basked in it. He leant against one of the posts, awaiting a change or sign of anything. His subordinates hadn't come out for a while now, and it turned out that Sasuke and Sakura were clones. He knew Sasuke couldn't make kage bunshin, even though he was talented; even he couldn't pull that off yet. Sakura hadn't learnt it, and though she appeared to have excellent chakra control; he could tell they weren't hers. That only left one person. Surely it couldn't be Naruto? He was just a troublesome shrimp who was full of himself, thinking he'd amount to something of great importance. He didn't understand the severities of being the leader of a village.

He was astonished when a kunai flew past him, barely grazing his cheek. He lifted his hand and felt blood falling from the wound. That was rather impressive, but not the person in charge of the kunai had given themselves away. He scanned the area, but to no avail – he could find no signs of any of the three Genin. "Peculiar," he remarked to himself. Eyes wide, he was more than surprised when someone pinned him against the large post he had been leaning against. He blinked and looked down to find just a shadow there. It was a deep crimson, but not exactly black. What was it? He had no idea. "I must thank Shikamaru for teaching me this technique. Although it is only the Nara clan – and those with the Sharingan – are able to pull it off, I thankfully managed to do it, too. It is rather fascinating." A mature young voice echoed all around him.

"How rude of us," a more feminine voice said, "You have been put into a mild Gen-Jutsu. It will disable itself when we're ready. If we aren't ready; it can't be dispelled. Intriguing, isn't it? Ingenious, too, actually: I didn't comprehend at first, but once he explained it to me; it was just eerily fascinating." She ranted in a happy voice, but it came out in a damp monotone.

"Hn, and to think a Sharingan owner would be able to fend the trap off. He is smarter than he looks, as loathe I am to admit it." A dark, brooding voice muttered drearily. Kakashi's surroundings were eerily darkened with crimson blood seeping down the walls and two large, scarlet eyes watching him. "It's thanks to him for the interesting décor in the Gen-Jutsu. I think its fitting."

"Oh!" the girl's voice echoed, "It appears that we're ready now." True enough; the darkness subsided to reveal the beautiful blue sky with their puffy clouds floating around, oblivious to the man's previous discomfort. He blinked again, adjusting his vision to suit his environment. Naruto stood between Sasuke and Sakura, holding up the two bells callously. "It also seems that we've completed your task set for us, Kakashi-sensei. Surprisingly, it was all thanks to—"

"Oh, Sakura-chan, don't give Sasuke-teme all the credit! Dattebayo!" the blond wailed. Everyone eyed his in astonishment. Why wasn't he taking the credit? He always used to fool around and boast of his (seemingly useless) talents during the academy. Had he simply matured? Sasuke surveyed the boy. That wasn't it. Then perhaps – Naruto was like that all along?

No, it was impossible. With that last reassuring thought; Sasuke completely dismissed the matter from his mind. Kakashi dusted imaginary dirt from his sleeves and inspected his students, who all seemed unscathed. The blonds' chakra appeared to be drained. Had he made the strong Gen-Jutsu? No, obviously not – he was just a hopeless rookie. He smiled down at his students. "Congratulations," he said, "You've passed."

O—o—O—o—O

"So, Kakashi-sensei," the lithe blond began, grinning like a Cheshire cat, "What's our mission?" he asked, pumping his fists into the air in feigned anticipation. Unfortunately, it made his wounds ache more. '_This hurts a little. I have to get make-up or something to conceal my injuries. Yuck… Okay, that idea's out; it's way too feminine. I suppose I could use Kyuubi's chakra to heal them hastily now, but that would lead to rise to Uchiha's and Haruno's suspicions. I suppose I could conceal them with my own chakra during sparring or our mission, and they mightn't notice. I'll try that. If suspicions arise, I'll just say I'm a quick healer. It isn't lying exactly._' He thought to himself, nodding in silent agreement.

"Ah," the Jounin began, still reading his book intently, "Yes, we do have a mission, as a matter of fact," he said, a grin slipping onto his face. The only way it was noticeable was the way his right eye curved up. "It's a D-rank. Tora has—" he was interrupted by a ferocious blond, whose rage seemed only slightly genuine.

'_I realise that there are two Genin on this team, but making an ANBU Black Ops Captain go along with a D-rank? That is truly unacceptable. If Hoshiko-sensei were here—_' he paused, briefly tensing, '_I'm going to lecture Jiji for this. I mean—wait!_' The blond did a double-take and stared, mouth agape, to his teacher, '_Silver lop-sided hair, orange perverted book, mask over his face… Hatake Kakashi… the Copy Cat ninja… he's the guy who insulted Hoshiko-sensei and called me a shrimp! Oho, no wonder I had a bad feeling about this guy. He's so insufferable! Now I'm _definitely_ not doing a D-rank!_' he thought, clenching his fists as his eyes burned due to the thought of his previous teacher being affronted. "You're giving us a D-rank mission? Hatake—" he corrected himself begrudgingly; "Kakashi-sensei, we aren't doing another D-rank. I point-blank refuse." He glared at his sensei.

The rosette was about to lecture him on complaining, when the raven spoke. "I agree." He murmured darkly, "We haven't done anything particularly useful." His coal gaze shifted to their sensei reluctantly and slowly, not wanting to stop watching the blond. "I say we get a higher mission."

"So do I, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura squealed after hearing Sasuke's agreement. Naruto grimaced at her obvious lack of enthusiasm of being a shinobi – more enthusiastic to chase boys. Kakashi surveyed his students and sighed.

"This is going to be troublesome."


	3. Surprise

Epilogue

"_Hoshiko-sensei!" a small blond squealed in extreme delight. The man laughed brightly and picked him up, grinning at the little infant in his grip. "Hoshiko-sensei, are you training me today?" his bright azure orbs twinkled with pure glee and hope. Hoshiko grinned nervously._

"Ah," he began, "Naruto, we have a mission!" he declared. The blond gasped in astonishment and joy.

"Really?" he squeaked, "My first ever mission? Yatta!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands together excitedly. Hoshiko-sensei laughed exuberantly as well and jumped swiftly along the rooftops.

"Naruto," he said, pausing and putting the boy down. The blond cocked his head in patient anticipation and apprehension, "I want you to try what I'm doing. Focus your chakra and force it down to the depths of your feet and jump to the next roof." The small boy nodded and clapped his hands together, making a hand sign. He closed his eyes as fierce determination set in.

A blue glow which was emitted within his feet showed that he had completed the first half of the task. Although it proved difficult to have chakra control—especially at such a young age—Naruto had endless amounts of it. Mostly thanks to the Kyuubi, but even though Naruto was a Jinchuuriki for a Bijuu; he could use advantage of that.

Azure eyes snapped open and the boy let out a indomitable cry of resolve as he leapt off of the side of the building, desperately attempting to touch down onto the other side. Hoshiko's now narrowed gaze followed him blankly, but a huge grin formed on his pale face when the boy touched down near the edge of the building. He didn't slip off thanks to the use of his chakra. Hoshiko followed and hopped next to the smaller boy.

"Great job, Naruto," he congratulated. Unused to the praise, Naruto shifted uncomfortably, a pink tint flushing through his cheeks. Hoshiko ruffled the kids' hair. "Ah!" he said, "I've got you something." The blond blinked in surprise and waited with growing eagerness. The turquoise-eyed man revealed a black piece of shining paper with curvy white writing on it. Naruto frowned in confusion.

"What is it?" he asked uncertainly.

"This is a piece of paper," Hoshiko retorted. Naruto pounced on him, but the ANBU held him back with a hand, "It's a coupon," the blond paused, awaiting his continuation, "It's for a handy little shop that hardly anyone knows about. They deal weights. I used to use them when I was younger, but older than you," he grinned at the pout on the little one's face, "Anyway, I expect you to go this afternoon before our mission to pick up the weights. You'll wear them all the time: never remove them without my instruction. When the guy at the counter asks why you're there, just tell him I sent you!" he flashed a toothy grin. The blond beamed back.

"Awesome!" the azure-eyed child squealed in excitement, "I'm going to be the best ninja ever, and these weights will help me along the way! Hoshiko-sensei is the greatest!" said teacher grinned sheepishly and rubbed his nose to conceal his content grin.

"Yeah, yeah, kiddo," he said, "Let's get moving." He said, leading the way to the Hokage's tower.

"Jiji!" Naruto cheered joyfully as they entered. The old man inclined his head, smiling back at the excited boy.

"Hello, Naruto," he said, "How are you today?" he asked. The blond simply flashed a huge Cheshire cat grin.

"I'm fantastic, jiji! Hoshiko-sensei is going to get me to wear weights all the time! I'm catching up with you, jiji! Prepare to be knocked off your pedestal; there'll be a new Hokage here soon! Dattebayo!" he exclaimed. The old man laughed, but somehow managed to keep his pipe in his mouth during doing so.

"In time, perhaps," he agreed, "But you'll have to train hard."

"I will! I am! Hoshiko-sensei—"

"Insolent brat," someone interrupted, "You're just a puny shrimp whose only thoughts are of himself," the brooding voice murmured. He was standing in the shadows of the room, so only his silhouette was visible, "You know nothing of being a shinobi – the losses, the deaths – you just focus on fame and glory. It's pathetic," he grumbled.

"Kakashi," Sarutobi warned. The teenager stepped into the light and Naruto glowered fiercely. His lop-sided silver hair shone dully and his whole face was covered apart from one coal-coloured eye, which was blank and dark.

"The shrimp needs to hear it," he stated tonelessly, "And as for your Sensei," he glared, "He isn't much of one. You look up to someone like that? That is dismal. You know nothing. He's just another person who despises you."

Naruto woke up abruptly, panting and sweating. He felt his eyes burning, but no tears welled up within them. "Oh my God…" he whispered to himself. It had been years since then. Now he remembered why he loathed his blatantly uncaring teacher. He also recalled the next part, which was more amusing than hurtful.

The blond knew Kakashi had only been an adolescent during his little speech back then, and everyone despised the Kyuubi no Kitsune, but it was extremely spiteful and insensitive. Naruto couldn't do anything about the demon taking refuge within him; he never wanted it. It was also thankful the little boy had known about the monster within him. It would have been far too troublesome otherwise. He would have lost control. He felt the next scene resurface.

_"You…" the blond growled darkly, clenching his small fists, "I don't care what you say about me, but if you insult Hoshiko-sensei; I'll destroy you!" he screamed in frustration. The white-haired, turquoise-eyed man held him back by firmly planting his hands on the blonds' shoulders._

"Naruto," he began sternly, "Control your anger."

"But, Hoshiko-sensei, he insulted you!" the blond growled. Hoshiko was deeply touched that his student thought so highly of him, but he continued to retrain him, when the little boy in front of him vanished in a puff of smoke and the real one pounced on the teenager. Kakashi blinked in surprise when he was pinned to the ground by the boy.

"Naruto," Hoshiko snapped loudly, "Calm down!" the blond reluctantly halted in his attempts to suffocate the eighteen-year-old. "Get off of him, or we won't be doing the mission, furthermore, when we get back: no ramen for a week." The blond gaped in fury-filled astonishment as he stormed over to the man.

"N—no ramen? Hoshiko-sensei, you can't be serious—" the man grabbed the blonds' ear. "Ouch!"

"I am serious, Uzumaki Naruto!" he said firmly, "Now, will you behave, or do you insist on being a troublesome brat?"

Naruto grinned in despite of himself, but it quickly faded away into a defeated nostalgic smile, but it seemed so pathetically weak to be called that. He closed his eyes and held his head in his hands. He shook his hastily and got out of bed. "I have to meet my team," he sighed, pulling on his ANBU outfit. He went into the bathroom and washed off the make-up. Now his tanned skin was a shade paler than usual, and his wounds were visible, although most had healed. He pulled the fox-like mask over his face, concealing his features and leapt out of his window.

Genma leant against a tree with a laidback expression, sucking absently at the senbon in his mouth. His russet-brown locks were held up in his dark blue bandana, and his ANBU mask was leaning on the side of his face. Raidou stood near him, fidgeting nervously and biting his lip. "Do you think Taichou is alright?" he asked, tracing his burn scars on his cheek as he clutched his ANBU mask in his other hand. Hayate's black eyes turned to him slowly and he coughed into a fist.

"I'm sure he's fine," Genma answered. He understood that Hayate was just as worried as Raidou, but he wasn't one to show emotion, "He always shows up late. He's got a double-life now." He murmured. As if on cue; the blond appeared before them silently. He removed his mask.

"Hi, guys," he waved weakly. The bags under his eyes were almost as bad as Hayate's, and Genma said as much. Naruto and Genma scowled darkly at him and he sweat-dropped. "I apologise for being late," he mumbled, "We had to do the bell test today," the others nodded in understanding, "Uchiha and Haruno didn't comprehend the basic point; so I helped more than nacessary. I wasted some chakra on a Gen-Jutsu and Kage Bunshins."

"Maybe you should just rest tonight." Raidou pointed out, trying to conceal his worry. The blond shook his head, grinning mischievously.

"No chance, Raidou!" he said, "I've already got a request form jiji to complete this mission. He's going to tell Hatake that I'm sick or something, so I can't train with them for a week. He's going to give us a C-rank mission, and decided to wait until next week so I can keep the team safe." He rolled his eyes.

"I see," Raidou murmured, "Taichou, why do you dislike Kakashi-san?" he ventured to ask. Naruto seemed caught up in the past for a moment, but his evocative expression was hastily replaced with waywardness once more.

"He's a bastard," he said simply. The team knew there was more to it than that, but couldn't help but sweat-drop at how utterly childishly adorable he seemed at that moment. "On with the mission!" he sang, pulling his mask on, concealing his features. The others did the same.

'_He's still just a child,_' the three elder ANBU's thought, completely unaware that all of their thoughts were along the same lines, '_It isn't fair how much he's gone through._' "C'mon, guys! You're like snails!"

"Get over yourself," Genma snickered, "It isn't that we're slow; you're just way too fast!"

"Then learn to boost your speed! I'll train your speed next time." The blond grinned with joy when he heard the groans of defeat. Growing serious, they trudged on to complete their mission.

O—o—O—o—O

"Hayate: grab the box!" Naruto ordered. The sickly proctor nodded and caught it swiftly with graceful speed. When five clones of their enemy ran to him, he glowered slightly and hurtled it to Naruto. "Good work!" the boy congratulated, catching it feasibly. He made some hand signs and the earth rumbled loudly.

Cracks appeared in the earth and it began to shake. "Uzumaki Pin Missile!" he shouted. He picked up large rocks about twice the size of him and chucked the hefty weight at the clones. They were all discarded from the fight, turning into water. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" twenty clones ran towards the enemies. "U!" he kicked the leader, "Zu!" he kicked him once more as he flew up into the air, "Ma!" another kick sent him flying, "Ki!" he got in yet another kick, which sent the suffering man higher, "Uzumaki Rendan!"

It was all so fast that after Naruto's team had blinked during the occurrence; their captain was standing firmly in front of them, casually holding the precious box in one hand, whilst the other was planted on his hip. He strode leisurely over to them, faking a smile. "Good job, guys," he said, "I deem this mission successful. We should get back now. We're two days early. Ramen: here I come!"

"He'll never change…"

O—o—O—o—O

"Naruto!" the blond groaned and pulled himself out of bed. He'd only arrived home two hours ago, and someone already wanted to ruin his life? How wonderfully terrible. He trudged along slowly. His body felt so heavy from lack of sleep, and he hadn't finished bandaging one arm. He focused his chakra and his wounds disappeared from sight. '_I hope they don't stay long. I need to rest – my chakra's lowering. My wound's will be visible._'

He opened the door to reveal his team-mates of Team Seven. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Jiji was going to pay for this. "Hey," he greeted tiredly, "Can I help you?" he asked. The insufferable Kakashi looked like he couldn't care less about Naruto's condition, as did the other two.

"We were sent to check how you are," Sasuke muttered darkly.

"Someone needs a nap," Naruto grumbled, sensing Sasuke's grumpy aura.

"Don't insult Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed. Naruto winced at the loud noise.

"Well, I'm fine. Since you were sent to check if I'm fine, and I am – you can leave." The blond said tonelessly.

"You're not even inviting us in?" Sakura asked incredulously.

"It's obvious you don't want to be here. You were sent to check; you didn't come of your own accord. And," he glowered deeply at Kakashi, "Who would want to stay with something so dangerous?" he slammed the door in their faces, with a frigid Sensei, and two confused Genin's.

The raven and the rosette looked expectantly at their Sensei, who seemed to be glaring at the door. "Go on home, you two," he ordered sternly. The Genin blinked in utter confusion, but departed, albeit reluctantly. "Naruto," he said, "How do you know about it?" he didn't receive an answer. "Let me in, Naruto." Silence ensued and he grew frustrated. He was about to open it himself, when the door opened slowly. The blond tried to glare, but felt too weak. "We need to talk, Naruto,"

"No," the weary blond countered, "We don't. I know; I've dealt with it; everything's fine."

"What if you lose control? Surely you've taken—"

"Sensei," the boy interrupted faintly, yet his voice seemed unyielding, "I've known since I was three. I know what to expect from it, and how to control it. If it makes you feel any safer from my obvious danger to your beloved students, take these," he grabbed some papers with Kanji on them and shoved them into Kakashi's hands, "If you don't understand, ask Yamato-san." He then slammed the door and collapsed onto the floor.

The Jounin blinked in mild surprise. What had possessed such a tone of loathing within the boys' voice? How did he know about the Kyuubi and what it could do? How did he know how to control it? Tonnes of questioned swirled around in his mind and he just stared at the door. Later that night when he was sleeping in bed, he was oblivious to the fact that the wounded blond was withering in pain and asking, "Didn't he care about my feelings in the least?"

**No**, a deep, growling voice replied. Naruto scowled when he recognised the voice that belonged to Kyuubi, **You're a Jinchuuriki to the most feared beast of all. He cares more about being able to control you losing control than your contentment.**

"Why…?"

**That's a Junchuuriki's life, Kit.**

"And it sucks," Kyuubi didn't reply.

O—o—O—o—O

"So, Jiji, what's our awesome C-rank mission?" he grinned. He appeared to be eager with anticipation, but really he was wallowing in sheer boredom. Sarutobi chuckled slightly. He knew how feasible this would be for the blond. He was an excellent actor, though.

"Naruto; don't be so disrespectful!" Iruka lectured sternly. Naruto let a small smile slip onto his face briefly. The Chuunin sounded like a smothering and protective parent. The hastily fleeting smile didn't go unnoticed by the two Sharingan wielders in the room. They brushed it off, though.

"Your mission," he paused for an extremely dramatic affect, "Is to escort Tazuna-san back to the Hidden Village of the Mist." Everyone slumped in annoyance. That was so anti-climactic! At that precise moment, a drunkard old man staggered in, clinging to a bottle of alcohol.

"I'm supposed to entrust my life to these brat's?" he murmured in displeasure, "They're just runts. And I'm pretty sure the short one's brain-damaged." Three, two, one…

"WHAT!"


	4. New Foes

Epilogue

Naruto folded his arms and pouted, mumbling about ungrateful old men. Sakura sighed in exasperation, whilst Sasuke and Kakashi purposely chose to ignore the murmuring blond. "Honestly, kid," Tazuna, the old man they were escorting, began, "How can a little squirt like you be a ninja? It's irrational and stupid." He said, sniffing haughtily. "You aren't that much taller than my grandson." He added as an afterthought. Everyone expected Naruto to fly off the handle and scream at the old man.

"Think what you want of me," the blond said, folding his arms behind his head and staring up at the cerulean sky. He continued, "I'm used to people not thinking that I can do much. I'll just make everyone eat their words when I become Hokage." He spared a glare at Kakashi, but hastily looked away. Sakura and Tazuna blinked in astonishment. Sasuke stared blankly at the orange clad shinobi, whilst Kakashi quickly spared a glance at him. That reaction was not what they expected.

"And why do you want to lead a village who thinks that of you?" Tazuna muttered, glaring profusely at the boy. "Being the leader of an entire village requires persistence, strength and other qualities. If it's just 'cause you want to look strong, you shouldn't get the chance. You're just a little kid with no understanding of how the world works. It's not all rainbows and butterflies," he murmured. The blond didn't appear fazed.

"That," he said, "Is obvious. I don't think becoming in charge of Konoha is just a game. It won't be happily ever after." He said distractedly. His azure orbs travelled to the floor. '_Why is there a puddle here? It hasn't even rained for the past few days. Enemy ninja, hmm? Why, Tazuna, you didn't inform the old man about that._' He mused in boredom. He spared a glance at Kakashi and realised he had noticed too. '_Waiting for the opportune moment, right?_' a movement from the bushes caught his eyes and soon chains were thrown out, clutching Kakashi in their vice grip. Sakura gasped loudly.

"Kakashi-sensei!" she screamed. Her emerald eyes widened in immaculate and pure horror. Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but he also knew that she was a Genin. It was to be expected that she was terrified. Suddenly, where their Sensei was, a log took his place. "A—a replacement jutsu…" Sakura whispered in awe. Naruto's expression remained blank. When one of the enemies' ran to get the rosette, he was slightly surprised to find Sasuke defending her. '_Thank goodness his teamwork skills have improved…_' Naruto thought. Another enemy ninja ran towards him. Naruto's clone blocked the attack with his hand. Since the blonds' clones were basically real like him, he also took the damage of the hit. He paid it no heed.

The enemy shinobi charged at Sasuke, and Naruto sighed in annoyance. He lobbed several kunai at the ninja. They laughed, "You think these will stop us? You fool!" one shouted. Naruto raised a brow.

"No, I don't think the kunai will," he murmured, "But the explosive tags just might." The shinobi blinked in revelation, but they were moments too late. The explosion already set off. The blonds' clones shoved Tazuna and the two Genin out of the way just in time, and then the clones were demolished by the magnificent blast. Kakashi popped up in front of his students, shielding them from exploding debris.

"Are you all alright?" he asked. The two Genin were flabbergasted at the amount of seriousness in his coal eyes. Sakura just nodded numbly.

"B—but you'll have to check on Naruto! He wasn't thrown off with us by the explosion…" she explained with worry. Kakashi nodded and turned around. The area was covered in smoke, but it was slowly fading away. Their blond teammate walked up to them, appearing unharmed. They all stared in awe, but Sasuke hastily replaced it with a frown. '_How did he pull that off without being injured?_' he thought.

"Are you all okay?" he asked.

"We should be askin' you that, kid," Tazuna said. Naruto just shrugged.

"Let me see your hand, Naruto." Kakashi ordered. Hesitantly, the blond held out his hand. Kakashi took it in his and Naruto tensed up rigidly. "There was poison in the weapon that they used." He said. He inspected it, and found it slowly healing itself. '_Kyuubi no Kitsune…_' he took out some bandages and wrapped them around the now minor wound. All the while; Naruto never let go of his anxiousness until the man let go. "Okay, let's move on." He said, gaining his usual cheery tune to his voice. Sakura appeared to look less unnerved, but Tazuna seemed wary. Sasuke just seemed his usual, arrogant self. (In Naruto's opinion, that is.)

They all trailed along in silence, which seemed rather odd considering that back in the academy Naruto was never quiet. "What's wrong, Dobe? Were you afraid?" Sasuke taunted. The kunoichi was hoping that the blond would rise to the challenge as he usually did, but she was beginning to worry when he just continued walking in hush.

"Kakashi-sensei," the blond muttered. The Jounin looked down at his student, awaiting his continuation, "There's someone near." The silver-haired Jounin inspected the blond for a moment and then turned to face forward.

"Is that so…?" he murmured, mostly to himself. Suddenly the atmosphere became heavier and denser. "Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto: guard Tazuna!" Kakashi ordered sternly. All three Genin did as told; or so it appeared. Naruto's clone guarded the old man whilst the real blond hid concealed within the foliage of the trees. The Jounin glared up at the tree the enemy was in. "Hmm… Zabuza, right?" he murmured quietly. The dark-haired man perched on the tree faced him.

"Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Cat ninja," he recited. He inspected the three children guarding the old man he was after. "Sacrificing kids to complete your mission, Kakashi?" he jeered. Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "It's always been like you to put your mission duties first." Naruto – although he had no idea why – felt the need to defend his (admittedly horrible in the past) teacher. He leapt onto the ground.

"Uzumaki Pin Missile!" he said as he drew strength and pick up a massive clump of earth over twice the size of him, and chucked it at Zabuza. The bandaged man blinked in surprise and dived out of the way not a moment too soon. The huge rock whacked his shoulder, leaving it dislocated. Another was thrown, but he had been expecting it, so he managed to avoid it. Kakashi turned to try and get a glimpse of the attacker. Tazuna was being firmly guarded by his three Genin, so it wasn't any of them. He hadn't heard the name of the attack, either. He also knew he wasn't familiar with it.

"I suppose…" he brought his hand up to his forehead protector, which covered his left eye, "I must use it for this fight…" he gradually removed it to reveal three tomoe circling the pupil of his crimson eye. A scar ran down his face from his eyebrow to just below his eye. Sasuke froze. '_He has the Sharingan… That can't be… He isn't an Uchiha…_' he unconsciously began trembling. Sakura turned to him. Worry was blatantly obvious in her features.

"Sasuke-kun…?" she whispered. Kakashi heard her and turned to see Sasuke's miniature breakdown in tow.

"Sasuke, calm down!" he ordered austerely. "I'll protect you," he promised, "I'll protect all of you." Slowly, the Uchiha's trembling stopped abruptly. Naruto stared at the Jounin. His azure eyes were full of pain and poignant reminiscence. He shook his head and swallowed. '_You are a ninja, Uzumaki! Calm down and collect yourself. Be ready._' He let out a shaky breath and glared down at the field.

"Are we going to fight, Kakashi?" Zabuza muttered. The Jounin raised his own gaze to meet his enemies' glare.

"After you," he said. The fight ensued. It was all so quick. Soon, Kakashi found himself trapped within a water ball some kind. Zabuza prattled on about his jutsu and how the Jounin would die soon from lack of oxygen. "Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto: take Tazuna and run for it." He ordered sternly. Sasuke levelled him with a scowl.

"Hn, what good would that be? He'd eventually catch up with us and take Tazuna." He murmured darkly. Zabuza let out a strained haughty laugh.

"The brat's right." He said. Naruto hopped down from the trees in silence and made his clone talk.

"Sasuke, I have a plan," it whispered. The Uchiha turned to him, glaring intensely.

"Finally putting your brain to use, Dobe? What a surprise." He said dryly. Naruto's clone scowled.

"Listen, Teme, this is what you've gotta do…" they discussed their plan hastily and agreed on it. Suddenly, Sasuke withdrew a large shuriken from his bag.

"Take this: Demon Wind Shuriken!" he shouted, lobbing the weapon at Zabuza. The man dodged it by leaping up.

"You actually thought that could hit me?" he asked incredulously. Sasuke let the smallest of smirks slip onto his features when the shuriken transformed into the blond.

"No, we didn't," he said, running on the water and pulling his fist back, "But this will!" he charged at him and managed to punch him square in the gut, sending the man flying onto the land. Kakashi stared in awe; before his water prison vanished and he let his chakra slip into the sole's of his feet and stood. He turned to Naruto and blinked. '_How and when did he learn chakra control?_' he thought. He pulled himself out of his thoughts when the blond dashed across the water to finish Zabuza, but didn't quite make it.

All of a sudden, many senbon needles flew out of another bush. Naruto and the others blinked in astonishment as Zabuza was hit with all of them and slumped to the ground. A hunter shinobi leapt down from the trees and knelt next to the assumed dead man. He turned to the others and bowed his head respectively, "I apologise for intruding," he said, "But many of us have been hunting this man. You must understand he has secrets that our village needs to keep concealed. I will be taking him now." With that; he threw Zubuza's body over his shoulder and departed in a puff of smoke. Naruto narrowed his eyes. '_Those two…_' he thought, glaring at the spot where they had vanished, '_They're working together. I have a bad feeling…_'

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura yelped as the man fell. Naruto—although his petite frame—managed to haul Kakashi over one shoulder. The rosette ran to help. "What happened?" she asked nervously, watching the Jounin.

"He overexerted his chakra using the Sharingan. Seeing as he didn't earn it as a Kekkei Genaki; it takes a lot out of him each time he uses it." Naruto explained, also suddenly feeling slightly fatigued. The other three stared at him in admiration and awe at his knowledge.

"How did you…?" Sakura began, but Naruto just shook his head.

"We have to get Kakashi-sensei treated." He said.

"We can go to my house," Tazuna said, "This is mostly my fault anyway. I suppose I should help out." He explained, shrugging. Naruto gave him a small grateful smile and began to walk to the old man's house.

"Ah!"

"Naruto! Do you have to be so clumsy? Stop falling over!"

"You're such a klutz, Dobe…"

"Shut up, Teme!"

"Don't insult Sasuke-kun, Naruto!"

"But Sakura-chan!"

O—o—O—o—O

Charcoal eyes opened slowly and he sat up. "What…?" he began. He blinked and surveyed his surroundings. He was in a house.

"We're at Tazuna-san's house," the kunoichi supplied helpfully. He then let his gaze drift to the blond sleeping at the end of his futon. "You collapsed after using your Sharingan and Naruto and I carried you here. He stayed awake all night checking your chakra reserves and eventually just collapsed as well." She said and then let out an irritated sigh. "I told him he shouldn't overdo it, but he wouldn't listen to me!" the blond suddenly stirred, opening his azure eyes. He instantly became alert, producing a kunai and tensing. He blinked and put his weapon away, blushing in embarrassment.

"Um… Sorry…" he murmured sheepishly. He then raised his gaze to meet his teacher's. "Kakashi-sensei, Zabuza is still alive." He stated. '_Well,_' Kakashi mused, '_He gets straight to the point, doesn't he?_' he nodded gravely.

"Yes, I assumed as much." He replied. The blond didn't make any sign of recognition that he had spoken at all. '_Naruto's acting rather strangely… I heard he's a hyperactive knucklehead. He seems so mature, though…_' he thought.

"What?" Sakura asked in astonishment. "But the Hunter Ninja—" she began.

"He was working for Zabuza," Kakashi supplied. Silence ensued, only to be broken by Sasuke.

"Well, shouldn't we train then?" his brooding voice cut through the silence like a knife. Kakashi nodded.

"Yes," he replied, "We should."

O—o—O—o—O

Kakashi, helped to stand with crutches, strode into the forest with his subordinate's to train them. They paused when they found a satisfactory area. "Okay, we're going to learn chakra control," he said. Naruto inwardly groaned; he had mastered it with Hoshiko-sensei years ago! "We have to push our chakra into the soles of our feet and climb the trees using just that. The chakra must be supplied in equal amounts." He explained. Slowly, he ascended a tree near him and perched on a branch. "Go ahead and try it." He ordered. Each of the preteens produced a suffice amount of chakra into their feet and attempted to ascend the trees.

Sakura and Naruto did it correctly on their first try, but Sasuke overloaded the chakra amount and had to descend once again. He glared fiercely at his teammates, aggravated that they caught on before he did. Kakashi blinked in slight surprise. He hadn't expected Naruto to get it so quickly; he was a natural! "Okay, Sakura, since you got it so feasibly, you will be escorting and guarding Tazuna around town all day. Naruto, you will help Sasuke." Both nodded, but Naruto sighed in annoyance. Sakura reluctantly left with Kakashi, thinking about Sasuke all the while.

"You should ask her out," Naruto said, watching her walk away. "She loves you very much, and that's a special thing." Sasuke glared at him.

"I thought you were going to help me with chakra control, not give me dating advice." He retorted darkly. The blond sighed.

"Okay, I'll show you again." He said. "Focus and send your chakra to your feet in equal amounts. If it's too much you'll harm the tree and fall, if it's not enough; you'll fall almost instantly." He said, ascending the tree leisurely. "It's simple. Try it." He prompted. Sasuke scowled at him again and let his chakra flow into his feet and he dashed up the tree, but had to jump back when he harmed the tree. "No, you put too much—"

"How do _you_ know this?" Sasuke hissed.

"You put too much chakra in. You need less. Let me show you again."

O—o—O—o—O.

Everyone looked up from their dinner when Sasuke and Naruto entered the house. Sasuke was supporting the blond, who was completely drained of chakra. "He overexerted himself." Sasuke muttered. '_Overexerted himself showing me how to do it…_' he thought bitterly, sparing the blond a dark glare, which the smaller boy ignored.

"What's the point?" a voice asked. Naruto looked up and found a small boy scowling at him. '_Why is everyone so darn grumpy?_' he thought. "You'll just die anyway."

"Inari!" his mother scolded.

"I won't die," he said, "And I'll never give up," Naruto paused, "That is my nindo."

"You're a fool!" Inari shouted, clenching his fists. The blonds' expression remained devoid of any emotion, "You'll just die in the end! I should know! But you have no idea; you've never experienced pain!" he screamed. Azure eyes narrowed and darkened.

"Don't be so pathetic," he said, "I do know what it feels like. You shouldn't just blubber like a baby over everything. Tears don't solve your problems. Grow up; it's life." He scowled and limped out of the house.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled. "That boy… He's so…" she shook her head in irritation.

"Naruto knows what it's like to be hurt. He understands how it is to be alone; he always has been. However," Kakashi paused, "He always acts so tough. He realises that tears don't solve problems, and so he just got sick of crying, and did something about it." He said. "He knows pain better than anyone."

O—o—O—o—O

A brunette sat outside picking healing herbs. His gaze suddenly shifted when a beautiful bird flew away from its sanctuary in the trees to perch atop a body lying serenely within the grass and flowers. He blinked a few times with a bored and yet, at the same time, entranced expression drilled onto his pale face. He stood and walked over to the blond.

He kneeled down beside the orange clad body and put his hand over the small blonds' throat, and then paused. Hesitantly and slowly, he shook the blonds' shoulder. "Hey," he whispered, "Wake up. You'll catch a cold if you stay out here." He advised. Gradually, enchanting azure eyes fluttered open. Thick black lashes slapped the sun-kissed skin as the blond blinked them self awake.

"Um…" they began uncertainly, "Thank you for waking me…" blue eyes fluttered to him. "I'm Uzumaki Naru…" Haku put a slender finger over the person's pink-tinted lips to cut off their sentence.

"I know who you are." He smiled. The blond blinked in mild surprise, but chose to remain silence. "I am Haku." He offered softly with a smile.

"Don't do that…" the blond looked at the hands in their lap, "Don't smile if you don't mean it. I can tell; and it's painful. Please don't, Niisan." Haku blinked in mild astonishment.

"I apologise," he replied truthfully. The blond was very deceptive and extremely interesting. He scrutinised the orange clad shinobi. "And, if I recall, you noticed I am a boy?" Haku clarified, slightly impressed. The blond nodded and offered the boy a beautiful exuberant smile. The brunette stood, also smiling softly, "I must be going now. I only came out here to collect herbs for my friend," he leant down and kissed the blonds' forehead gently, which caused a jolt of surprise to erupt from the receiver, "If it makes you happier; I've noticed it, too." He collected his basket and walked away leisurely.

Naruto stared after the boy in extreme surprise and wary discontent. He then smiled softly, biting his lip.

O—o—O—o—O

Sasuke and Sakura sat guarding Tazuna and the other bridge builders, wallowing in sheer ennui and boredom. "Honestly," the rosette sighed and flipped her hair tersely. Sasuke ignored her, "Naruto is so bothersome," she said exasperatedly, "Chakra exertion… Only Naruto would manage that." She shook her head in disbelief. Sasuke briefly considered contradicting her. After all; the blond had only lost that chakra due to showing the raven how to do it. He hastily shoved those thoughts away. He wasn't going to defend the blond; ever. "But," the girl paused, "I suppose he is something. I mean he never does what you expect. I really thought he was a complete moron," she took another intermission, and continued, "However it seems recently I've been contradicted. Maybe there is something to Naruto other than his vibrantly loud and obnoxious outer shell after all."

Sasuke blinked and tried to keep his expression to remain bland, but Sakura amazed him just then. He thought that the girl was too obsessed with him to even think about anyone else—especially Naruto—but it seemed he was wrong, as well. He turned to face forwards again, trying to ignore the fact that he had been watching her for a while. The kunoichi was correct, though. There might have been something about their orange clad comrade that they didn't know. He did seem rather distant and different lately. He didn't want the boy to think that Uchiha Sasuke actually _cared_, though. '_I'd never care for them,_' he flippantly thought, '_They're meaningless people who I work with to achieve my goal._' He tried to ignore the sudden ache in his chest after he thought that. "Sasuke-kun, are you okay?" Sakura asked worriedly. Sasuke just looked away.

"Hn."

O—o—O—o—O

Inari stood in front of his mother protectively. "Inari, don't do anything! Just get behind me," Tsunami pleaded desperately. The boy shook his head vigorously. He was obviously scared, but he wanted to help his Mother. When one of the thugs approached him, he began to tremble with unblemished fear. He took a step back.

"Aw, the kid's trying to play the hero. Alright, runt, give us your Mother, and we'll let you go." The brawnier one taunted snidely. Inari took another involuntary step back, but the man continued approaching him. His intimidating aura and towering figure overpowered him. His charcoal eyes widened and he felt a massive wave of fear take over him. The man lashed out with his sword.

Inari closed his eyes, preparing for the pain. Reluctantly and slowly, he peaked open an eye and then jumped. "N—Naruto?" he stammered in disbelief and astonishment. His Mother seemed just as surprised as he was. The blond ninja in orange attire grinned impishly, before knocking the two shinobi out with great ease.

"Sorry for being late, Inari!" he apologised, "But you know what they say: the hero always arrives just in time!" he cheered with mirth. "Take care of your Mother; I have to go save my team-mates! And Inari," he smiled and ruffled the boys hair, "Good job. You're Father would be proud." He sent him another grin, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. The small boy stood there in silent surprise, and then a huge grin made its way onto his face.

"Do us all proud, Naruto-niichan!" he cheered.

O—o—O—o—O

"What the…?" Tazuna began as this smoggy mist made its way over the bridge. He noticed the shinobi were suddenly alert. Sasuke and Sakura were instantly beside him in a protective position, whilst Kakashi stood in front, as if preparing for a battle about to inaugurate. Suddenly, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, two ninja emerged before them.

"Kakashi," Zabuza's thick voice muttered, "How nice to see you again."


	5. Hollow Triumph

My eyes fluttered open and I yawned loudly and stretched extensively

The atmosphere was extremely tense. Overwrought and surprised, Sakura hastily moved into a more defensive position in front of Tazuna, with her kunai drawn. The old man glanced at her briefly, before letting his paranoid gaze travel back to the two men. "Ah, so you are alive after all," Kakashi said. He appeared calm, but his eyes were serious and held no ounce of amusement. The mist ninja smirked beneath his mask. Sasuke nor Sakura seemed affected by his change in demeanour.

"No use trying to fool Hatake Kakashi, I suppose," he muttered. No response was made to that remark, and so Zabuza merely clasped his hands together in a seal. Kakashi was quick to react and swiftly removed his hitai-ate from his eye, enabling his Sharingan. "There's no use, Kakashi," the brute man declared. "Haku here only has to see a move once to know its strengths, weaknesses, and anything else about it. He's seen your Sharingan, and so now I can avoid its little traps." Kakashi glowered.

Zabuza's gaze momentarily drifted to the two Genin in protective stances before the old man and laughed sarcastically. "Haku, look, you have a play toy," he gestured to Sasuke. The raven's glare intensified, and his hold on his kunai tightened. "He's shaking!" the bandage-clad man declared. "He's afraid; how pathetic." The raven's features darkened even more, before an arrogant smirk formed.

"I'm shaking…" he began, "With excitement." Zabuza didn't comment, but nodded once to Haku. The masked shinobi turned to the Uchiha and bowed his head. The raven didn't return the polite gesture, but instead chose to begin the fight. Sakura took a step towards them to help, but the raven declined. "Sakura, protect Tazuna." He ordered. Reluctantly, the kunoichi nodded and obeyed his demand.

With that, the fight commenced. Haku delivered numerous poisonous senbon needles to the Uchiha's body, who in return attempted using his infamous fire techniques. So far, it had come to no avail. He hissed in irritated defeat and felt his anger rising. His eyes widened slightly when the masked shinobi pulled out lots more senbon and folded his arms, awaiting his perfect moment. _I have to move now!_ Sasuke thought desperately.

The raven forced his aching muscles to move, but he was stuck. He growled deeply and awaited the inevitable. His enemy raised the senbon and launched them. Sasuke closed his eyes, awaiting the deadly impact and humiliating defeat – but it never came. He opened his eyes just in time to see a kunai zoom past in a hasty flash, and it managed to scrape the enemies' cheek. Blood seeped out, and the boy raised his hand to touch the sticky substance. In that moment of surprise, the surprise attacker launched another attack at the boy.

Thousands of needles cascaded down from the sky like glistening, dazzling raindrops. Haku got hit by a few, but was hasty to move to another ice mirror before the deadly poisonous needles rained on him. Sasuke furrowed his brow, wondering what the attack was and where it came from.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?" an oh-so-familiar irritatingly annoying voice called from above. "Having trouble?" it taunted. In one quick wisp, the infamous blond-haired, azure-eyed, orange-clad ninja who acted as a beacon appeared before him in a protective stance. Instead of the expected idiotic grin; he was wearing a small frown on his vibrant features. The Uchiha was prepared to retort but when he noticed the meaningful and hateful look in Naruto's eyes, he glared slightly.

The Uchiha let his steely eyes drift from his orange-clad team-mate to the masked shinobi. Something had happened between these two somehow—he could tell by their postures. He had assumed he'd be able to read the blond boy's eyes, but they were amazingly masked. He appeared extremely calm, but trying to conceal his rage. Sasuke didn't comprehend how the two knew each other, but the blond appeared so outraged and betrayed that he realized that they did. And the enemy ninja knew something about the mysterious blond team mate. Why _did_ Naruto hide things?

"You traitor…" Naruto hissed. His eyes burned, but he refused to cry. He felt fury bubbling up inside of him. "You said…" he gritted his teeth and looked down leaving his sentence incomplete. He clenched his fists and a shadow loomed over his face. His sunshine yellow locks spilled over his face, concealing his stormy eyes. Instead of shouting out and charging forward as Sasuke would expect, the blond calmly placed his hands together and formed hastily swift seals. "Uzumaki Tsuchi Amaya!" he shouted.

_What is that?_ Sasuke thought with a poorly stifled glare at his strong team mate. _Such strength…_ he marvelled with jealously. _I want it._ His fists clenched tightly as he absorbed the technique, but witnessing it wasn't enough. He didn't comprehend how his idiotic team mate would have such a technique, whilst he didn't. Massive clumps of earth rose into air and shot down like missiles. Smaller clumps rose as well, but those were ignored. The masked shinobi dodged the larger clumps, but the smaller ones struck him. He felt his right leg go numb.

"Yes, people usually disregard the smaller pieces of earth," Naruto said in a monotone. "The smaller ones have random doses of chemicals in. Some are strong enough to kill, whilst others only numb you. Soon, you will lose all feeling in your body. I'd say you have ten minutes." The blond finished. "You shouldn't underestimate anything," steely sapphire orbs rose to meet the enemies' gaze. The enemies' eyes travelled away from the blond momentarily, catching sight of the Uchiha. _I see_, he thought. _The only way to get Naruto-chan is to attack the comrade. I'm sorry, Naruto-chan._

The masked ninja bowed his head in apology, and then in one hastily flash he had managed to toss a load of poisonous senbon needles at Sasuke. The raven's eyes widened. _Damn it! I can't move right now, and they're coming right for me!_ he thought. In one swift movement, Naruto was in front of Sasuke, shielding him. The Uchiha's eyes widened when the blond was struck with what was meant for him. He glared. "Dobe! I didn't ask for you help." He seethed.

"We're team mates," the blond replied. "We help each other, whether we want to or not." He said. The raven thought he would collapse right there, but the moron in orange attire stood firm, although he was sweating and trembling slightly. Sasuke frowned deeply. _He's taken more hits than I have, and yet he's still fighting. I can too._ He thought. Feeling strength course through him out of rage for the enemy and what he did to his team mate, he stood. Dark eyes fixed on his shivering team mate, his fury tripled. His eyes flared a disturbing crimson colour and two tomoe formed in the centre of his eye. "The Sharingan…" the enemy whispered to himself.

Naruto glanced at the raven briefly and mentally took note of the Uchiha prodigy's improvement. He then turned back to his enemy, only to find him blurry and out of focus. _Damn… getting hit by those senbon really didn't do so well. I have to get Sasuke out of the way. Or I could use him to our advantage._ The blond contemplated. "Sasuke, use one of your fire jutsu," Naruto ordered. The raven tuned to him, and then nodded in acquiescence.

"Fire Jutsu: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" he shouted. Flames erupted from his mouth after he made the hand-seals. Haku was hasty to dodge. Naruto's and Sasuke's eyes took in every movement. Both comrades looked at each other and exchanged a silent nod in approval. Sasuke repeated the move, and Naruto used a special technique. Time almost froze for a moment, and then everything went by so fast that even the Sharingan could hardly see what had occurred. The fire caught the enemies' robes and burnt the hem. "We almost had him," he muttered.

Sasuke suddenly caught sight of more senbon being launched at the vulnerable blond. Before he could think, he dashed in front of the orange beacon. Naruto's eyes widened in astonishment and he spoke, "Sasuke…" he whispered. "Why… why did you do that?" _I could have saved myself._ He mentally added.

"I don't know, Usuratonkachi," he replied. "My body just moved on its own." He slumped and fell backward, but Naruto caught him before he hit the ground. The smaller blond held him tightly and closed his greyish eyes. "Don't let your dreams die," he said. Naruto scowled slightly. _Shut up, Sasuke. You won't die. I won't let you._ He thought. "I wanted to kill him… my brother." _Uchiha Itachi._

Naruto didn't respond to that. His eyes narrowed slightly when he thought of the elder Uchiha. He knew about him. How could he not? When he was put on the mission of taking care of Uchiha Sasuke, he had been informed of the assassinator of the Uchiha clan, and that he was with an organisation called Akatsuki. His ANBU team knew about it too, and when they found out, they seemed even angrier than him. He felt contented that his ANBU team cared for him, but also slightly wary. People were usually never nice to him – unless they wanted something. Naruto looked at Sasuke.

The raven's eyes closed slowly after reaching up to Naruto. The blond clutched the taller boys' hand tightly for a moment. "He was a good shinobi," the enemy said solemnly. "He protected you…" he trailed off when the blond shifted. His eyes flashed a brilliant shade of cerise and he looked up, glaring furiously through his spiky sunshine yellow bangs. He stood slowly.

"Shut up," he hissed in a dark voice. The air became thicker and the atmosphere even more unbearable than previously. "If you want to give a eulogy, start with your own!" he shouted. Making hand-seals, Naruto unleashed a jutsu. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he shouted. Many clones appeared beside him, all wearing the same loathing expression and startling crimson eyes. "Uzumaki Tsuchi Movement!" again the clumps of earth rose into the air, followed by numerous rocks this time, and flung themselves at the mirrors. The enemies' eyes widened behind his mask when one shattered.

_My mirrors… they shouldn't be able to shatter…_ he thought. Slowly he turned from his broken mirror and his eyes widened once more when red chakra flew at him with outstanding speed. He evaded it just in time, but more of the chakra that represented blood flung itself at him and he wasn't so lucky the second time. The frightening chakra knocked him backwards, and all of the glass mirrors from the enemies' Kekkei Genkai shattered. Fragments of the mirrors fell around them and shattered into even smaller pieces on the floor.

As his mask also slipped into broken fragments and his face was revealed, the blond dashed up to him with a fist raised. He closed his chocolate eyes and awaited the impact. When pain never came, he opened his eyes to find the blond trembling before him. He looked down at the shivering blond and smiled softly. "Naruto-chan," he said gently with a slightly pained expression when he saw the sorrowful sapphire orbs. "I am sorry." He whispered. Naruto's eyes closed.

"Why?" he whispered. "Why does this always happen? Everyone I care about – they all… all of them…" he whispered, for the first time in years incoherent. Haku frowned slightly and remained still. A breeze swept past and tousled their hair. Naruto's eyes snapped open when he felt arms wrap around him. He remained still and silent. He didn't know what to do—no one had ever hugged him before. It felt nice, but strange. His eyes were still wide, but they had deteriorated from startling crimson to stormy sapphire.

"I am sorry, Naruto-chan," Haku said gently. "We have both faced bad lives, and I am sorry you've had to suffer so much." He smiled softly and Naruto felt numb and wary. _How much does he know?_ Haku tipped the blonde's head up and placed his own lips against Naruto's. The 'enemy' broke away silently, leaving Naruto completely and utterly stunned. "Now, I must do one more thing." The ebony-haired male said. "I will miss you, Naruto-chan," with that, he vanished. The shell-shocked blond raised his hand to touch his lips with bewildered eyes.

When Haku's meaning sunk in, his apprehension increased. "Haku!" he shouted, forgetting his ANBU instincts, he rushed towards them. He saw Kakashi's Chidori preparing to plunge into Zabuza, and then Haku stood between them. All sound drained away from Naruto's ears apart from his footsteps. He panted as he rushed forward. He opened his mouth to shout the boy's name again, but not sound erupted. Remembering his ANBU satire and training at the last moment, he made hasty hand-signs. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he said.

A row of clones appeared around the scene with much haste, and then attempted to shove Haku out of the way of the attack just in time—but to no avail. Kakashi's attack pierced the chocolate-eyed boy's chest.

_It always happens…_ thought Naruto with unblemished sadness. Haku slumped down to the ground, and his limp body paled as he accepted death openly. Naruto had seen plenty of death due to his capacity as a Jinchuuriki, and being an ANBU – but that didn't make the loss any easier. Chuckling roused from the brash man who was supposed to take the hit, and the blond raised his gaze to glare with disgust at Zabuza. "Good work, Haku," the despicable man muttered. "You came in useful after all." Naruto's fists clenched tightly.

"You disgust me," he hissed. Two sets of eyes snapped to him. Kakashi stared with slight sympathetic empathy, whilst Zabuza glared with irritated annoyance. Both men expected the blond to be infuriated and charge right up to them in a futile effort to destroy the bandaged man, but surprisingly level and calmly hateful eyes gazed up. "He gave up his life for you. He lived to make you proud of him – and yet all you did was undermine him. You were everything to him, but he was nothing to you!" his eyes were bitter. "I've seen lots of despicable things in my life, but this is just repulsive." He whispered harshly.

Silence ensued for a while. "Ah, Zabuza, I see you've failed," an irritatingly haughty voice murmured from across the bridge. "You didn't kill the bridge builder." He said with patronizing disappointment lingering in his words. He looked down at the bloodied boy and kicked him with his foot. "The brat's dead," he declared with a smirk. "Wonderful. He shouldn't have broken my arm, damn unpleasant child." Naruto's rage bubbled but he contained himself.

"Kid, have you got a kunai?" Zabuza's words were laced with unkempt venom and vehemence. The blond reached into his kunai holster and grabbed one. He tossed it to Zabuza silently. Gatou's eyes widened behind his sunglasses and he backed up towards his group of pathetic cronies.

"D—don't be a fool, Zabuza," he said shakily. "There's only one of you and tonnes of them! You'll perish easily!" he shouted. The group of cronies smirked and tightened their holds on their weapons. Men's eyes widened when Zabuza dashed forward with a look of pure hatred.

"H—he's the devil!" one shouted with fear as the scary man approached them with astounding speed. Kunai clutched in his teeth, he destroyed every man in his way. Most backed away with trepidation and horror. He soon reached Gatou, who backed away. The man swallowed and tried to reason with Zabuza, but the assassinator didn't – wouldn't – listen. He flew at Gatou and slashed his neck, and then shoved him off the edge of the bridge.

"L—let's get outta here!" one of the men shouted. The rest shouted their approval and made to escape when they saw all of the villagers blocking their path holding any replacements for weapons as they could muster. The little boy at the front grinned broadly. "Run!" the men shouted as they escaped. Inari pouted slightly and put down his crossbow glumly.

"It's over? I didn't get to fight, though," he murmured sadly. The villagers chuckled at him and smiled fondly. They then rushed over to Sakura and Tazuna. The rosette left Tazuna in favour of seeing her team-mates. She rushed hastily over to the forlorn blond.

"Naruto, where's Sasuke-kun?" she asked in panic. The blond boy's eyes remained blank, but his fists clenched slightly. The emerald eyed kunoichi seemed to comprehend the meaning and ran to where Sasuke and Naruto had fought Haku.

"Kakashi," a weak voice coughed. The blond and the silver-haired man turned to find a bloody Zabuza lying still. "Take me… take me to him." He said hoarsely. The Jounin frowned sadly and nodded. He walked over to the dying man and picked him up. Slowly and carefully he walked over to where the seemingly peaceful Haku lay and placed him next to the boy. He then backed away. Naruto watched the scene blankly, but a small smile graced his lips when Zabuza reached over and took Haku's hand.

"Sasuke-kun!" the kunoichi wept as she buried her face in her crushes shirt, sobbing uncontrollably. She gasped when she felt the body beneath her shift.

"Sakura," Sasuke muttered, "You're heavy…" Sakura's eyes filled with newer, happier tears as she hugged the raven tightly. "S—Sakura, get off!"

"It's snowing!" a random villager declared. Everyone apart from Naruto looked up at the sky in awe. The softly falling snow cascaded gently upon them, and it gave a surreal feeling to the bittersweet ending. Naruto closed his eyes.

"Goodbye, Naruto-niichan!" Inari said with tears in his eyes. The blond smiled at him and forced his act up too. He did feel sad to be leaving Inari and the village, but he had been trained so much not to give into sadness that it was slightly difficult.

"Bye, Inari," he choked out. _Sorry, Inari, Hoshiko-sensei… I have to act. I don't feel the emotion._ The small boy leapt up and hugged Naruto tightly. No one caught the words that the two boys exchanged through whispers, but they passed it off as substantial and unnecessary anyway. Inari's expression was shocked and flustered, but a huge grin spread across his face soon. Naruto sent him a meaningful smile and ruffled his hair.

As Team Seven departed on their way home into the sunset, the villagers contemplated on a name. "What should we call the bridge then?" one enquired. Random names spurred out of people's mouths, but Tazuna silenced them with haste.

"We'll call it," he paused dramatically, "The Great Naruto Bridge," he smirked. "For the future Hokage of Konohagakure, and the saviour of our village!" Shouts of agreement echoed throughout the village.

"Good job, Team Seven," Sarutobi congratulated. Sakura smiled politely and blushed at the compliment. Sasuke turned away with a grunt of acknowledgement, whilst Naruto remained silent and Kakashi took to regarding the blond with curiosity. He soon shrugged off the odd feeling and turned back to the Hokage. "You've passed your mission." Sarutobi continued with a smile. "You are dismissed." He added. All of them bowed and turned to the door. "Stay, if you will, Naruto." He continued. The team faltered at the door, but Naruto just turned and stared blankly.

The others departed soon after and went home without a second thought. "How did it go?" Sarutobi asked casually. Naruto's sapphire eyes dimmed slightly before regaining their blank composure once more.

"It went fine," he answered glumly. The Hokage closed his eyes and smiled with a shake of the head.

"I can tell that you're lying," he said solemnly. The blond made no comment. "Despite your training, you show small signs—" he was cut-off.

"I don't want to talk about the mission. Uchiha and the others are safe, and we protected Tazuna. What more do you want from me? It's all in the report anyway." The blue-eyed boy interrupted with a scowl. Sarutobi nodded gravely.

"Kakashi mentioned in the report that someone died," Naruto didn't make any signs of recognition, but his fists loosened. "Was the boy close to you?" the old man asked gently. An unreadable emotion flashed through the blond boy's sapphire eyes before he turned away.

"If that is all, I shall leave," he said, obviously avoiding the question. "Unless you have another mission for me?" he knew the answer when his ANBU team arrived.

"Why are you limping, Naruto?" Sakura asked in exasperation. The blond inwardly sighed. _Oh yes, I injure myself on purpose._ He thought sarcastically. Planting a huge grin on his face he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and laughed shamefacedly.

"Ah, I tripped in training yesterday!" he said awkwardly. The rosette rolled her eyes and continued to lecture the blond on not being careful enough, and not being as talented, skilful and wonderful as the great Sasuke-kun. Note his sarcasm. The blond took to tuning her out. He leant over the side of the bridge, taking a sharp intake of air when pain coursed through his ankle. Sasuke noticed but didn't mention it. He was confused as to why the blond hadn't complained about it though.

Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke. "Wari, wari, sorry I'm late," his collected and irritating (to Naruto) voice sliced through Sakura's ranting of her precious Sasuke-kun. "You see a found a wounded dog and—"

"Liar!" the kunoichi shouted. She turned to Naruto expectantly, but the blond just continued frowning blankly. "Naruto, what's up with you? You're acting so weird…" she began uncertainly. Although she didn't show it much, the rosette kunoichi did care for her blond team mate, despite her denial. She folded her arms and took a motherly stance. "Are you ill? Injured? You have to take care of yourself—"

"Nothing's wrong," he interrupted. He forced a grin to convince her. Reluctantly, Sakura dropped the topic. Naruto turned to Kakashi with an agitated glare. Sasuke and Sakura didn't understand why the blond withheld such hostility for their sensei. "Have we got a mission, _Sensei_?" he asked begrudgingly. The Jounin ignored his disrespect and got out his book, scanning the pages.

"Yes," he replied. Sakura beamed excitedly and Sasuke smirked. "But it's only a D-rank; we have to retrieve Tora again." He said blatantly with his eyes transfixed on the orange perverted book that his students loathed. The two Genin deflacted, whilst Naruto inwardly twitched. _An ANBU Black Ops Captain stuck doing Genin work… how degrading…_

"Sh—she's going to slip!" Sakura cried when she noticed the black cat that caused them so much trouble slipping from a branch. Naruto sighed. He could easily use a jutsu to retrieve her with haste and feasibility, but that would appear suspicious. He would have to make do with Genin tactics to salvage her. He pressed one of his feet onto the tree and – making sure that it wasn't his sore one – he climbed quickly. He went for the cat, but it hissed. The blond frowned at its stubbornness.

"Come here, stupid cat," he murmured. "If you want to live, come to me." He said with slight impatience. The cat growled again. With a sigh, he smiled gently. He slowly put his hand out to the cat. It bit his finger, but Naruto didn't wince. He just continued smiling. "See? Nothing to fear." He said. Very slowly, Tora crawled over to Naruto. The blond picked her up gently and jumped to the ground. His team mates stared at him in astonishment. "Since you three seem to be in a coma, I'll return this thing." The cat almost pouted, and the blond smiled. He always liked animals.

They always understood you better than humans, and they couldn't betray you.

"Finally, no missions with Hatake today!" Naruto said with unusual true cheerfulness. He pulled on his orange jumpsuit gingerly and picked up a basket. He hesitated at the door and then removed his bright gear. He pulled on a plain short-sleeved black shirt and pants. Picking up the basket once again, he bowed his head and departed from his house. He gained some oddly curious stares when he left, but he tried to ignore them. He always did.

"Why is the demon kid—" one began. His girlfriend slapped a hand over his mouth but glared at the blond as he walked past them silently.

"Ssh! You aren't supposed to talk about it," she scolded him sadly. "I know he's a burden, sweetie, but ignore the brat." She said gently as she embraced him. Naruto lowered his head in disgust. _'It'? I'm an 'it'?_ he thought angrily. Shaking his head of negative thoughts, he continued to his destination.

"Can you see him, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura whispered to her companion. They had arranged to follow Naruto on their day off to find out why he was acting so indifferent and odd. The raven nodded silently. Pulling her along, he hastily dashed behind a billboard nearer to their team mate. "Why is he wearing black?" Sakura wondered.

When Naruto was almost at his destination, he stopped abruptly. "Is their any particular reason that you two are following me?" he asked brightly. Both the kunoichi and the Uchiha halted.

"Um… we weren't following you!" Sakura objected. "We… we're on a date!" she declared and took hold of the raven's arm. Sasuke twitched and his jaw tightened.

"Then you shouldn't be going where I am." Naruto said. "Bye, guys." He called cheerfully, dashing off. Sasuke and Sakura watched him vanish.

Placing yellow and white roses gently on Hoshiko's grave, Naruto bowed low. "Hello, Hoshiko-sensei," he greeted. "I'm sorry I haven't visited in a while. I had to go on a mission with the Genin team," he said. He took a long pause. "I met a boy," he finally said, looking at the floor. "Why must everyone I love get hurt, Hoshiko-sensei?" he stood in silence for a while, and then traced his deceased sensei's name on the grave stone. "…Why did _you_ die?"

Rain beat down heavily when Kakashi finally heaved a sigh and began to depart from the KIA stone in which his old team's names were engraved. "I'll see you next time, guys," he said solemnly. Turning to leave, he noticed a chakra presence nearby. His visible eye narrowed and he flicked out a kunai. Discreetly moving towards the chakra, he prepared to attack. He leapt out, but paused at the sight he found.

Naruto was curled into a tight ball in front of a grave stone, hugging one of the yellow roses. His sunshine yellow locked spilled out onto the soaked pavement and it appeared slightly longer than usual. Instead of his blank face or broad grin, he looked serene and vulnerable. He looked so small huddled up like that. His black clothes were sodden and he was shivering slightly from the coldness inflicted by the rain.

Kakashi slowly knelt down and picked his Genin up. He stared down at the helpless blond for a moment, and then took off home.

He didn't stop to notice what lurked within the shadows of the trees, where another chakra signal was present.

**SasuNaru—SasuNaru—SasuNaru**

**Gosangoku: Naruto isn't mine. His ass belongs to Sasuke though. Damn Uchiha…**

**Naruto: Oi! I'm not involved in this 'yaoi' business!**

**Gosangoku: The hell you aren't! I control you! Wooooo!**

**Naruto: Not in the real manga you don't!**

**Gosangoku: …Someday, yaoi fans will overpower Kishimoto Masashi!**

**Sasuke: …**

**Gosangoku: You know you wanna do him.**

**Sasuke: …Naruto, do you want to play a game?**

**Naruto: What kinda game?**

**Sasuke: I'll show you. It's in my room.**


	6. First Exam, Second Time Round

My eyes fluttered open and I yawned loudly and stretched extensively

Warmth was the first thing Naruto felt when he finally awoke. He moved to sit up, although his body ached for more sleep. He bit back a groan and squinted. He raised a hand to his forehead but froze like stone when he heard something. Prepared for an attack or ambush – despite the hospitable-looking location – he stiffened and raised his fists. "Finally awake?" his sapphire orbs widened and he turned around so hastily that he heard his neck click. He blinked in sheer dismay and confusion.

"Hatake…?" he murmured in disbelief. Extremely reluctantly loosening his fists, he shoved his blankets off of him – why did he have them on anyway? But they did feel nice… – and sat up and dismissed his dizziness. He surveyed his surroundings irately and finally turned back to his contemptible teacher. "Where am I?" he enquired briskly. The Jounin raised a brow at the blatant insubordinate rudeness.

"My apartment," he answered as if it were obvious. He had his damnable mask on, effectively covering the lower half of his face. His hair was messier than usual – he's most likely awoken not too long ago. He had his usual clothes on, aside from his Jounin vest, which was tossed haphazardly on the couch. Knowing the blond boy's next question, he spoke up again. "I found you asleep in the rain." He said. He was uncertain, but it didn't linger in his calm voice. The blond gave his a deceptive and suspicious stare.

"Why were you there?" Naruto asked quietly. The silver-haired man blinked, but remained expressionless. Why was his student so suspicious? It seemed all too befuddling. He serenely slid his orange book out of seemingly nowhere and stared at the pages with a blank expression. Pretending to read, he answered the boy.

"I was visiting some old companions." He replied softly. The blond halted but held his gaze for a long while. After several minutes of silence, he let his gaze drift away from Kakashi to stare forwards. "And yourself?" he returned. A hint of pain flashed through the usually blank blue eyes, but it was soon covered with antagonism.

"Isn't it obvious? I was covering the graves in graffiti," He answered sarcastically. His fists were clenched so hard that his knuckles were white. He swiftly recovered himself. "That's what I always do, after all." He added spitefully. The Jounin frowned at his Genin but didn't speak. After another long soundless time, the blond surprisingly broke the silence. "Why did you bring me here?" he made it sound like he was being held prisoner.

"Like I said; you were asleep in the rain." He answered simply. At the blond boy's incredulous expression, he sighed. "I wasn't just going to leave you there to get sick, Naruto," the boy seemed momentarily stunned. He recovered quickly, flustered at his speechless state. It couldn't have happened often then obviously. "Though, I think you did gain a small cold." He said as he took in the slightly flushed cheeks and slightly clammy skin. Small beads of perspiration were gathering on his brow as well.

"I don't get sick," the boy defended heatedly. After that last statement, he stood. He closed his eyes for a moment, as if steadying himself. Kakashi was prepared to catch the boy if he fainted, but Naruto soon opened his sapphire orbs and kept facing forward. "Where's the door?" he enquired. The Jounin blinked lazily and gestured to the hallway. "Thanks," Naruto said begrudgingly. He left the room and when Kakashi heard the door click shut, he knew that his student had departed.

"Well…" he began to himself. "That went better than expected."

Heaving an exceedingly irritated sigh, Naruto let the last of his patience fry. "Konohamaru," he gritted out. "I know you're following me. Stop it now." He said as he silent seethed. The odd-looking brick behind him erupted in a cloud of smoke, and three academy students beamed at him. The blond blinked and raised a brow when he caught sight of the goggles they wore on their forehead, similar to the ones he previously wore before he gained his headband.

"Gosh, boss!" Konohamaru gushed happily. "You're good!" Naruto sighed and narrowed his eyes until they were slits, whilst his mouth hung agape in a comical way.

"Right, whatever, kid," he said with a sigh, regaining his blank expression. "Go bother someone else. I'm busy here." He said with a small smile at them. Udon sniffed and looked up at him, whilst Moegi gave him a bright beam and Konohamaru grinned evilly. Naruto glanced at Moegi. Something in her eyes disturbed him. Like she knew something…

"C'mon, boss!" Konohamaru cheered. "Let's play!" he made a yelp when he bashed into something, or someone. The guy in black turned around and sneered at the brunet boy cowering on the floor. He picked him up by his collar.

"Well, well, well," he muttered. "What do we have here? A little whelp who doesn't know where he's going," he jeered. Konohamaru swallowed in fear.

"Leave the kid alone," a dirty blonde sighed and crossed her arms. "He's only a kid." She muttered with a lazy scowl. The boy paid her no mind.

"Hey," Naruto hissed. The guy stared down at him with a raised brow and a leer. "Let him go. He's just a kid; he doesn't know what he's doing." He said angrily. The guy scoffed.

"I think I should punish the little brat for not respecting others." He contemplated. The blond boy's eyes narrowed and anger flared in them. The girl made a haphazard comment, sounding like, "I'm not getting involved in this…" Naruto ignored her.

"Let him go, or you will pay." He warned. The guy chuckled humourlessly. Who did this kid think he was? He was scrawny and short – he had no chance. He held Konohamaru higher, but when he felt a flaring pain in his cheek, he let the boy fall to the ground. He stared down at the little blond and found that his hand was balled into a fist.

"Y—you punched me!" he declared. The blond narrowed his eyes. "You… I'll kick your ass for that, you—" he was interrupted.

"Stop, Kankurou," a deep voice muttered. All heads turned to an upside-down redhead. He seemed to drill fear into everyone, but Naruto could only feel a rush of sadness. Subaku no Gaara – the Jinchuuriki of Shukaku. He felt an overwhelming sense of empathy, but he also felt incredibly wary. He smelt blood on the boy. He had killed. He swallowed. He knew he was no better – it was practically his fault that Hoshiko-sensei had died that day, protecting him.

Breaking him out of his reverie, the boy – Kankurou, was it? – laughed sheepishly, but there was nervous tension hidden beneath it. Naruto scowled at him blankly. He feared the redhead. It was Jinchuuriki prejudice – he knew it all too well. "S—sorry, Gaara," he apologized. The redhead didn't respond. He turned to Naruto and his eyes narrowed ever so slightly that even the Uzumaki's trained eyes almost didn't catch it. Time to act!

"Hi! I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" he grinned. The feeling of guilt and disgust washed through him as he acted marvellously. Gaara remained expressionless as if he saw through the act. The blond immediately became wary. The girl's eyes travelled higher and she smirked.

"Say, who are you cutie?" she enquired. Naruto also turned and found the Uchiha perched atop of a branch with a crushed stone in hand. He sighed dejectedly; the Uchiha was ready to jump into action! What a hero! He scoffed to himself with a pout, surprising himself. Stupid Uchiha – he made him pout! Uzumaki Naruto does not pout!

The blond hastily turned away to hide his embarrassing slip in self-control. "Uchiha Sasuke," he muttered darkly. His dark, brooding eyes shifted from the girl to the redheaded boy. "I'd like to know your name." He uttered. Creepy pale jade eyes shifted to him and the boy remained perfectly silent and still for several moments.

"Gaara," he muttered enigmatically. "Subaku no Gaara." His eyes shifted hastily to Naruto once more – almost too quick for even Sasuke's Sharingan to witness – and he turned to head off, but they were forced to halt.

"Hey," Sasuke murmured again. Temari and Kankurou stopped and turned. Gaara stopped but didn't face him. "Are you authorized to be here?" he inquired.

"Don't worry, Uchiha," Temari smirked again. "We came for the Chuunin exams. We have authorization." They then departed. Sasuke's hate-filled gaze followed the redhead. Naruto noticed and stifled a glare at him. He turned to leave.

"Naruto," the blond stopped. "Your speed when you hit Kankurou…" the raven furrowed his brow. Naruto didn't speak for a long while, but soon turned to the Uchiha and grinned broadly.

"Guess the great Uzumaki Naruto's got skills, huh?" he declared as he dashed off with Konohamaru Corp. not far behind.

A rather peeved expression made its way to Naruto's face when he received his Chuunin Exam slip from Kakashi. _Joy… I get to compete in the Chuunin exams for a _second_ time…_ he thought with sarcasm. The blond turned to his two team-mates. Sasuke was staring silently at his slip but a small smirk soon made its way to his face. Sakura was stuck between apprehension and fear or happiness. He closed his eyes when he remembered receiving his slip for the first time.

_"Maa… Hoshiko-sensei," Naruto whined shamelessly as he trudged behind the white-haired man. "We've been walkin' for ages! My legs hurt!" he complained. "Where are you going, anyway?" he muttered upon receiving no response. He yelped when the turquoise-eyed man turned and leant down and grinned brightly right in front of his face. "Uh… sensei?" Naruto squeaked._

"Congrats, Naruto!" Hoshiko cheered as he scrambled for something a pocket on his ANBU vest. "You're gonna be in the Chuunin exams next week!" silence ensued for a long time. Naruto just stood there with wide eyes and his mouth agape. Hoshiko laughed and picked the blond up, swinging him around. Suddenly the small boy wrapped his arms around the ANBU's neck and squealed with euphoric happiness.

"Naruto, you in there?" the calm voice of his new sensei drifted into his ears. He blinked and grinned brightly. _Stupid Hatake…_

"I'm great! We get to compete in the Chuunin exams! This rocks!" _I'm such a good actor. I could work alongside Fujikaze Yukie._ He thought bitterly. The Jounin studied him briefly, and then just retrieved his book and began to read.

Sakura also inspected Naruto with a hint of confusion. _Something about him is different… he doesn't seem the same…_ she thought. Furrowing her brow, she glared with determination at the permission slip for the exams. She looked up and stared at the Uchiha and the blond. _From now on, guys, I'll protect you. You can be the ones to watch my back!_ she thought with resolve.

As if sensing her thoughts, the blond smiled slightly.

Sasuke and Sakura glared at the two elder shinobi guarding the entrance to their room. "This is our room; 301. You've used a Genjutsu to disguise it!" the rosette accused. The two ninja smirked.

"Well done, kid." One muttered. They smirked and then vanished in an eruption of smoke. The three in Team Seven exchanged bewildered glances, although Naruto sensed their disguises. _Why were they using disguises anyway…? To test us…?_ he thought with a frown. _Kotetsu and Izumo…I wonder why they did it though?_ he blinked and came back to reality when he heard Sakura gasp. He rose his gaze and scowled.

Sasuke's and Lee's eyes widened when Naruto caught both of their legs before they landed their kicks. _Damn it, Uchiha, I space out for two minutes and you're already committing suicide?_ the blond thought irately. The raven and then green-clad ninjas stared in shock – and annoyance in the Uchiha's case – at the small boy in orange attire.

_How did he stop my kick…?_ both thought in surprise. When he was sure that they had both relented, he let them go. Turning to Lee, he grinned knowingly. "Ah, I used to wear weights too." He nudged him. The taller and older shinobi blinked at the blue-eyed boy and soon beamed at him.

"Ah, how youthful!" he declared. Sweat drops dripped from everyone's heads. "What is your name, my youthful friend?" he asked passionately. The blond blinked.

"Uh… I'm Naruto…" he murmured uncertainly but with a small smile. This guy seemed cool.

"Ah! Naruto-kun! Let us wander forth on the road of youth!" the blond could swear he saw flaring embers in the joyful boy's bug-like eyes. The Uzumaki chuckled uncertainly.

"I would, but… my team and I have to get going, and I assume yours does too…" he said politely with a grin. The green-clad boy nodded enthusiastically with tears pouring out of his eyes.

"Ah! Naruto-kun! You are so youthful! You're putting your priorities first! You are truly astounding, Naruto-kun! I do hope to meet again!" he cheered. Suddenly the taller boy revved around. "And who is this beauty?" he shouted joyously. The blond blinked and turned around to find Lee down on one knee in front of Sakura. He snickered to himself. "You are beauty itself, dear Sakura-chan! I swear to protect you! Will you be my girlfriend?" the rosette looked horrified.

"Wh—what? I—I couldn't! Those… creepy eyes and those bushy eyebrows… no!" she squealed. Naruto sighed and shook his head. Lee looked crestfallen momentarily, but the flames of youth flared back.

"Do not worry, Sakura-chan! I shall still protect you and win you over!" he gave her a good-guy pose which consisted of a thumbs-up and sparkling teeth. A brunette girl shook her head and grabbed Lee's collar.

"Let's go, lover boy." She said as she dragged her team mate away from the horrified female.

As Team Seven entered room 301, they each took in their surroundings. Shinobi from various villages were gathered in different sections of the room. Naruto glared at the three Sound Ninja. _There's something about them…_ he narrowed his eyes. One of them threw a quick glance at them and smirked when he spotted the Uchiha. _They're here for Sasuke. Damn it!_ he thought angrily. Why could he never get a break?

He came back to reality when he heard girlish squeals. "Sasuke-kun! I knew you'd be here!" a blonde girl with cobalt eyes beamed as she wrapped her arms around the Uchiha's neck. Yamanaka Ino smirked when she caught Sakura's agitated expression. "Oh, Sakura, you're here…" she drawled. The rosette glared.

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?" the green-eyed girl inquired furiously. The other girl shrugged and flipped her bleach blonde hair out of her face.

"Oh, I just thought you wouldn't show up. I mean, you aren't very strong…" she trailed off purposely. The Haruno clenched her fists in rage. Thankfully, before she had a chance to let her temper take control, the rest of the rookie nine appeared. Naruto felt an arm hand around his shoulders and looked up at grin at a boy with messy brown hair.

"Hey, Dog-breath, how's life treating you?" the blond mock-insulted. The taller boy ruffled Naruto's hair aggressively.

"Life's good, shorty," Kiba replied with a grin of his own. One of the blond boy's brows twitched at the familiar nickname. After all of the rookies exchanged greetings and conversations, they were silenced by a flare of smoke. When the smoke vanished, an intimidating man with scars littering his entire body stood scowling before them.

"Welcome to your first exam."

**SasuNaru—SasuNaru—SasuNaru**

**Gosangoku: Naruto isn't mine. His ass belongs to Sasuke though. Damn Uchiha…**

**Naruto: Oi! I'm not involved in this 'yaoi' business!**

**Gosangoku: The hell you aren't! I control you! Wooooo!**

**Naruto: Not in the real manga you don't!**

**Gosangoku: …Someday, yaoi fans will overpower Kishimoto Masashi!**

**Sasuke: …**

**Gosangoku: You know you wanna do him.**

**Sasuke: …Naruto, do you want to play a game?**

**Naruto: What kinda game?**

**Sasuke: I'll show you. It's in my room.**


	7. Enter The Forest

My eyes fluttered open and I yawned loudly and stretched extensively

_This is it_, many Genin in the room thought in anxious tension. They sat forward, awaiting the tenth question that was certain to alter their futures. "Before I ask you the last question, you must think," Ibiki muttered. He folded his arms across his broad chest and stared the students down. Most backed into their seats, nervously fidgeting. "Do you really want to go through with this? If you answer wrong, you'll never have the chance to be a Genin again but…" Naruto drowned his droll voice out after that. He didn't even bother to answer the questions – everyone thought of him as a stupid rookie, and who was he to make them believe otherwise?

He snorted softly to himself as he leant back leisurely in his seat, drowning out Ibiki's boring lecture that he'd partaken in once before and witnessed tonnes of times. He noticed some people raising their hands and requesting to leave. He rolled his eyes in irritation. _Fools_, he mused in boredom. _If you can't take pressure, you shouldn't be a shinobi._ His eyes dimmed when he recalled someone else saying that years ago.

_"What's wrong, Naruto?" Hoshiko enquired. He placed a hand on the youths' shoulder and stared into the boys sapphire eyes with his bottle-green ones. "You aren't yourself." He added softly. The blond looked up, appearing startled. His face became bitter._

"The mission… I—I don't think I can do it." He whispered softly. Hoshiko blinked in confusion.

"What do you mean? Of course you can, Naruto. I believe in you." He beamed at his student, and the blond felt his mouth curve upwards in return, but still seemingly melancholy.

"If you can't deal with pressure, there is not point in being a shinobi." A brooding voice from behind him piped up. Naruto swerved around and prepared to attack, but Hoshiko held him back. The blond snarled at the silver-haired man.

"That's what you believe, jerk! But some of us aren't like you! Some of us believe that as long as you have something to live for, you should live your life to the fullest!" he shouted. Kakashi stared blankly at him.

"You are pathetic." Was all he said before disappearing.

The present came back to him whilst his flashback dissolved into nothing. He shook his head of the memories and looked up, his attention alert once more. He felt people watching him but didn't act as if he noticed. "So, you're the only ones left," Ibiki said. Naruto mouthed the words along with him, after memorizing them one hundred times. "Congratulations, you've passed the first exam—" he was interrupte by a purple-haired woman bursting through the roof with a huge banner.

"Welcome to the second exam!" she shouted enthusiastically.

All the teams lined up in front of the forest gates. Naruto didn't listen to Anko when she explained everything – he'd already heard it before. The purple-haired woman walked over to him and leant down to his smaller height. She whispered, "Your team doesn't get a scroll, pipsqueak. You're strong enough to get everyone's scrolls," she muttered. "Have fin, kiddo." She ruffled his hair affectionately but roughly. Naruto growled.

"Geddoff, Anko!" he snapped. The woman grinned impishly and strutted off. The blond huffed and turned to his team. "Sakura, Sasuke," he called. "We're going in now." He said. The rosette jogged up to him and the raven walked over broodingly.

"Ladies first, Dobe." Sasuke muttered. Naruto scowled at the Uchiha.

"That'd be you then," he retorted, but walked in first anyway. As soon as he entered, his eyes hastily darted around, attempting to locate any signs of danger. "Let's move quickly." He said.

"We have plenty of time, though," Sakura frowned in confusion. The blond didn't answer but picked up his pace. His comrades shrugged and did the same. After a full five hours of travelling and attempting to locate other teams, Sakura suggested that they should stop. Begrudgingly, Naruto accepted. Sasuke seemed even more irritated than the blond that they had to stop.

"I'll get some water." Naruto said. He grabbed their flask and swerved through the trees. He feasibly located a lake and filled the flask. As the water seeped in, he looked around. Mentally counting to three, he easily threw his shuriken at a random ninja that leapt out. He fell back into his team-mates and fell into a lump on the ground. Naruto stood, recapped the flask, walked over to the unconscious bodies, and took their scroll. "Thanks." He muttered.

Sakura blinked when a Heaven Scroll was placed in front of her. She met Naruto's eyes. "So, we have both now?" she enquired. The blonde hastily formed a lie in his head.

"No. I must have lost our first one." He said. The rosette soon grew irate.

"Naruto! Don't you know how important the Chuunin exams are? If we fail, it will be five years until we may retake them!" she ranted angrily. The blond ignored her and dumped the water flask by Sasuke.

"Drink it. We're leaving soon." He said.

"What do you mean? We…" Sakura began.

"Aren't safe here," Sasuke finished, silently agreeing with Naruto. The rosette frowned in perplexity.

"But…" she mumbled fruitlessly.  
"Someone's here." Both the raven and the blond uttered. They met each others gazes, and both looked away childishly. Sakura didn't bother to scold them, merely attempted to sense a chakra signal.

"Yakushi Kabuto," Naruto muttered. "Come out." The grey-haired adolescent leapt out of the trees skilfully and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"I apologize for scaring you," he said. Naruto snorted sarcastically. _He almost sounds sincere._ "I didn't mean to—"

"Get out of my sight and don't come near us or any other team." Naruto warned with serious eyes. Kabuto seemed surprised. _Good acting_, the blond noted, agitated.

"You think I am here to hurt you?" the grey-haired man enquired innocently.

"No, I don't think," the blond muttered. "I know." He scowled darkly at Kabuto. Sakura elbowed him in the side.

"Naruto! Show some manners!" she hissed. "Anyway, he could get us to the tower." She murmured, showing off her analytical and smart skills.

"I don't trust him," Sasuke voiced, his intense dark eyes skimming over the new man in a scrutinizing manner.

"I—" Kabuto prepared to defend himself, when a huge snake flew out of the ground. It shook dirt off of its head and glared at the two Genin. He was about to lunge, when a rock was thrown at him. He turned to the source and hissed at the puny blond boy who had dared to make an attempt to injure him.

"Come get some." Naruto challenged.

**SasuNaru—SasuNaru—SasuNaru**

**Gosangoku: Haa… not mine. This story **_**might**_** be SasuNaru. I'm uncertain. I just like looking at the word. Hehe, 'SasuNaru.' Anywaaaay, firstly I wanna focus on Kakashi and Naruto's relationship, which will be parental, **_**then**_** I'll focus on pairings. But you'll have a surprise first. Hehehehe.**

**Naruto: …I have a bad feeling about this… like foreboding or something…**

**Gosangoku: Whistles innocently**


	8. Be Prepared

"Naruto-_chan_," Kabuto drawled. He smirked when the blond flinched and he adjusted his glasses to show how in control he was. "I think it is safe to say I have no idea what you are talking about."

"The hell you don't," Naruto snapped. He sounded calm, but there was slight desperation loitering within his eyes. Neither Sasuke nor Sakura could fathom why, however. The blond boy's eyes narrowed in on the silver-haired teenager before them. _Yakushi uses medical jutsu, so he will most likely attempt to immobilise my main chakra points or muscles_, He pursed his lips and got into a defensive stance, making Kabuto chuckle. Naruto ignored him and continued thinking, _He's also a good strategist, what with working for Orochimaru, so he'll attack my weaker points. Which would be…_ "Sasuke, Sakura!" he called. "You have to get somewhere high up!"

"What…?" Sakura frowned in bewilderment. She didn't comprehend why Naruto was acting this way. "Naruto, what are you talking about?" she demanded.

"Sakura, please," the blond said. He turned to look at her and she realised how much he cared for her then. "You and Sasuke must get to a higher landmark. It's important. Please trust me."

Reluctantly, she nodded. "Okay, Naruto," she agreed. "But… if you get in trouble, we won't waste time. We'll come down and help you immediately." Her expression became stern. "You'd better remember that!" she ordered.

"Thank you, Sakura," Naruto replied, smiling gratefully.

Sasuke didn't agree as hastily as Sakura and silently appraised his blond team-mate. Despite Naruto's unusual fraught behaviour – not that he displayed it, however – he didn't believe him. "Don't be stupid, Dobe," he uttered, ignoring the blond boy's fierce glare. "Do you think I'm weak?" he raised his voice slightly.

"Sasuke-kun—" Sakura began, trying to help Naruto by distracting the temperamental Uchiha, but he just shook her off. "Ah!" she gasped when he shoved her into a tree.

"Uchiha, goddammit, now isn't the time to go into avenger mode!" Naruto hissed. Noticing that their attention had been diverted by their minor squabble, the blond swerved around and his eyes widened when he realised Kabuto wasn't there. He cursed quietly. "Sasuke, Sakura, get higher up now! No objections!" he ordered.

"I don't follow orders from someone like _you_," Sasuke said darkly. Sakura's jade-green eyes widened.

"Sasuke-kun, don't—" the rosette tried, but her efforts were futile. She gasped when Kabuto appeared behind her. She veered around hastily and was met by a punch in the stomach. She gasped and held her afflicted area but quickly recovered and regained her composure. She made hand-seals but remembered Naruto's desperate request. Hesitating only briefly, she nodded in the blond boy's direction, grabbed Sasuke and leapt up onto the trees.

Naruto smiled gratefully before adapting his blank mask of indifference. "Yakushi," he muttered. "I'm going to make you pay for all of the things you and your master have done."

Kabuto seemed to understand the threat but just smirked in return. "Is that so?" he murmured. "I suppose I should give it my all then, hmm?" he replied in a taunting manner. He made a few hand-seals and a green glow surrounded his hands. "Let's play, Naruto-chan."

Naruto glared hatefully at the elder boy and made his own hand-seals. A scarlet aura surrounded his body.

Kabuto's eyes widened before he calmed again. _Ah… he's channelling the Kyuubi no Kitsune's power into his own chakra to combine them. That technique must have taken a while to perfect_. He mused.

Not ever being one for patience, Naruto soon charged forward. Kabuto narrowed his eyes again and lunged forward to meet in the middle. He pressed his chakra-covered hands against the blond boy's vital points but he just erupted into smoke. Kabuto's eyes widened. "When did he have time to make a clone?" he whispered to no one, awed despite himself.

"Over here," a voice muttered. Kabuto turned around only to meet a fist in his face. He was knocked back and skidded to a halt but crashed into a tree anyway. He coughed and was astonished to find that he'd spat up blood.

"How did you…?" he began. He frowned in confusion. "That's a type of medical technique. There's no way you should be able to accomplish such a feat." He declared, perplexed.

Naruto closed in on him with amazing speed and held up his chakra-covered hands and plunged his hand through Kabuto's chest. The silver-haired boy's eyes widened as blood pooled out of his mouth. Sakura screamed, looking utterly horrified. Sasuke looked astonished. He looked at the blond and scrutinised him. This wasn't the Naruto he knew. Pausing momentarily, his suspicions arose once more. _But… the Naruto I know… is he even real?_ he questioned himself. _I should test my suspicions—_

Before he could continue his train of thought, he noticed Naruto tense. He realised that Kabuto had grabbed the blond boy's arm and dragged him to his level. He was whispering something, but Sasuke couldn't hear it despite his advanced hearing.

"Uzumaki Naruto… you always have to play the martyr, don't you?" Kabuto smirked evilly. "Just like Hoshiko." He added. Naruto's eyes widened and his stony façade shattered but only briefly. He recovered himself hastily with a blank mask of impassiveness. "But can you really protect everyone else when you have so many dark secrets that you hide from them?"

Tensing briefly, Naruto pursed his lips before regaining his apathy. "I do what I have to so I can protect them. If they know of my past, they will be endangered also. I won't subject them to such injustice." He informed Kabuto stoically, who smirked in response.

"One day you will break down, Naruto-chan," he whispered, pulling the blond close. "And you will have to deal with it all on your own." With that declared, Kabuto smirked and disappeared. Before he did, however, he chucked two scrolls to the blond, who easily caught them instantly. "That's a little prize for you, Naru-chan." He said before completely vanishing.

O—o—O—o—O

The two Genin and the ANBU-incognito were sitting beside their fire that Sasuke made. Both Genin stared at their blond team-mate inconspicuously. Naruto knew they were watching him but he couldn't be bothered to tell them to leave him alone. He knew they wanted to ask him about earlier, but he didn't want to talk about it. It was unnerving to know that anyone – particularly an enemy – knew Naruto's secrets. He shuddered at the thought.

"Are you still cold?" Sakura asked with a concerned frown. The blond forced a smile in response.

"No, I'm alright," he answered her politely. The rosette didn't look convinced but she just sighed in defeat and shook her head, exasperated with her team-mate's odd behaviour.

"What did Kabuto say to you?" a brooding voice demanded. Naruto turned to Sasuke only to meet a dark scowl. He glared back at the aloof Uchiha.

"It doesn't matter." He replied bitingly, turning away.

Sasuke scrutinised him again. Naruto hated when people watched him. It made him feel so exposed and vulnerable. He loathed it.

Sakura, sensing the troubled atmosphere, attempted to lighten the mood. "At least we have both of the scrolls now – Heaven _and_ Earth. Now, once we've rested, we can go straight to the meeting spot inside the tower." She said optimistically, beaming brightly.

"We do have the scrolls," Sasuke agreed broodingly. "But that doesn't explain why Kabuto just gave them to us. If someone just told us what he said…" he turned to glare at Naruto, who was purposely ignoring him. "Maybe we could figure it out. It could be a trap."

"If it were a trap, we would have most likely realised it by now." Naruto muttered. _These are just normal scrolls. Yakushi had a plan. It's something to do with Sasuke_, he thought. He scowled at the floor. _And I think I know what it is._

Sakura sighed in defeat again. _Honestly… boys are so difficult to understand!_ she thought. "We've had a long day," she said, breaking some of the tension. "We should get some rest."

"I'll guard," Naruto said. Sasuke and Sakura stared at him before frowning; one in suspicion and one in worry. Nevertheless, they did as the rosette had suggested and fell asleep.

O—o—O—o—O

"Over here… we can steal these kid's scrolls, guys," a male voice whispered. Naruto heard him feasibly but remained still and silent. More footsteps were added to the man's own.

"Be careful, Shinji," a female voice advised anxiously.

"Oh, please," the man – Shinji, apparently – replied, sniffing haughtily. "These three are just kids. Even if they do wake up, I can take 'em easily." With that said, Shinji walked forward, obviously not even trying to be quiet, and leant down to grab the scrolls. "I've got them!" he hissed into the darkness.

"No, you haven't." Naruto said, grabbing the man's arm and twisting it painfully. Shinji cried out but the blond just tightened his hold on the man. "Be quiet. My team-mates are asleep." He ordered. "If you want to remain safe, I suggest you steal another team's scrolls. You won't get them from us."

The boy nodded frantically with wide brown eyes. Naruto let him go and he scurried off with his team-mates. The blond boy sighed and relaxed against a random tree, staring up at the starry sky. He winced slightly. Stars always reminded him of Hoshiko-sensei.

_"Okay, Naruto, we've finished training for today," Hoshiko said as he tossed the little blond a towel. Naruto feasibly caught it and wiped the sweat off of his brow._

"See you tomorrow, Hoshi!" Naruto beamed. The white-haired man's eyes widened briefly and smiled, then ruffled the boy's hair. Naruto knew the Hoshiko didn't like being called by his name often since 'ko' usually only added to girl's names, and he didn't like people referring to his slightly feminine looks, so Naruto occasionally cut-off the 'ko' from his name, which he appreciated.

"No, no, kiddo. You're not going home yet!" he declared. Naruto tilted his head.

"Neh?" the boy blinked in bewilderment. "Why?"

Hoshiko chuckled and grinned before saying, "We're going to watch the stars."

Naruto hastily brought himself out of his flashback before he imagined the paternal moments they had shared. His heart lurched when he remembered them. "Hoshiko-sensei… I miss you…" he whispered brokenly.

Little did he know, Sasuke heard him whisper that cheerless sentiment.

O—o—O—o—O

"Naruto, you didn't have to stay up _all_ night! You could have woken one of us up." Sakura chided. The blond just laughed sheepishly, but both the rosette and raven could hear how empty it was. They didn't voice their concerns, because they knew that Naruto would just brush it off – well, for Sasuke, it was because he didn't really care for others' well-beings. He only cared for revenge, which was precisely why Naruto had been assigned to guard the stoic bastard.

"Sorry, Sakura," he said softly. "I guess I was kinda distracted." He offered as an explanation.

"Shinobi should never be distracted. They must always focus on their goals." Sasuke muttered, pointedly not looking at Naruto. The blond ignored him, for which Sakura was thankful; she didn't want her team-mates to fight.

"Ah! We're almost there." She declared. Her jade eyes brightened at the fact that they had progressed through the second exam with little-to-no trouble. Before her optimistic thoughts could proceed, the ground began rumbling. Without warning, a katana had been driven through Sasuke's back. His eyes widened before he coughed up blood and collapsed backward. Sakura screamed.

"Kai!" Naruto shouted. The scene blurred before coming back into focus. "It was a Genjutsu," he explained. "The enemies are hiding their motives." He added.

Sakura slumped in relief that Sasuke was alright but tensed immediately when she heard a dark chuckle. Before she could even pinpoint where the sound was coming from, the Uchiha was shoved against the ground. Smirking, the enemy – who evidently appeared to be a ninja from the Hidden Grass Village judging by her hitai-ate – leant down and opened her mouth. She was obviously going to bite Sasuke.

_Not if I can help it._ Naruto thought with determination. "Uzumaki Pin Missile!" he said hastily and clapped his hands together. He then picked up large clumps of earth and threw them at the intruder. The girl's eyes widened before she hissed and feasibly blew them up. She smirked, but her victory was short-lived as the earth clumps exploded and poison senbon needles escape and flew at her. She retreated and Sasuke threw himself out of the way of the senbon easily, panting with the effort.

"You'll have to do better than that, Jinchuuriki!" the girl hissed. Naruto's eyes narrowed before he clenched his fist tightly and dashed forward with amazing speed. The girl's eyes widened and attempted to dodge but it was futile. The blond boy's fist crashed into the girl's abdomen and she coughed. A small amount of blood spurted up and she wiped it off of her chin with a swipe of her arm.

Naruto scowled darkly. "And you will have to do better than that to get to Uchiha Sasuke, Orochimaru." He muttered almost inaudibly.

Blatantly surprised, the faux girl glared back but soon gained a smirk. "Kukukuku… you have won for now, Jinchuuriki, but I will have my precious Sasuke-kun. You can't possibly defeat me – you're just a helpless little child." With that said, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sakura rushed over to Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun, are you alright?" she asked anxiously. The boy pushed her away.

"Hn." He replied stoically. "We should get to the tower." He said. The rosette reluctantly nodded and helped him up. He brushed her off and began walking by himself. Sakura sighed sadly and sped up to catch up to him.

Behind them, Naruto clutched his stomach where his seal was. _Is that all I am to people? A monster?_ he thought, upset. He hastily brushed off is misery and smiled bitterly. _Of course I am. I'm stupid to think otherwise. But…_ he glanced at his team-mate's and closed his eyes briefly. _It's nice to pretend that sometimes… I'm normal._

O—o—O—o—O

"We've finally arrived!" Naruto declared jovially, having slipped on his usual joyful façade, much to his team-mate's chagrin. Though they liked the blond being happy – it gave them a sense of normalcy – they didn't like the fact that it was fake. Sakura found it upsetting that he couldn't rely on them, and it just aggravated Sasuke who couldn't figure out the enigma that was Naruto.

"So, what do we do now?" the Uchiha muttered in his standard brooding tone.

"I guess we open the scrolls," Naruto said thoughtfully, although he already knew, having taken the test previously.

Sakura prepared to berate him for thinking such things when they so blatantly were told not to, but seeing as Naruto usually always knew what he was doing; she huffed and resigned to her fate of following the blond boy's orders. "Go ahead," she prompted.

Tired of his ritual he had previously undergone, he muttered something and there was a huge blast of smoke. Sasuke and Sakura watched in anticipation and apprehension, ready to fight if need be, whereas Naruto just awaited a Chuunin instructor to show up.

To Naruto's true happiness, Iruka appeared. He let a small smile slip through. "Iruka-sensei," he acknowledged. The brunet man grinned and ruffled his blond locks, to which he squawked indignantly. He enjoyed being with Iruka; he was like a father to him, or at least an elder brother. He could feel like a real kid when he was with him.

"Hi, Naruto," the man greeted contentedly. "Sasuke, Sakura," he acknowledged politely. Both nodded in response and the rosette smiled as well. "Well, I suppose it is safe to say… you've passed!" he declared. Sakura beamed, proud and pleased. Sasuke just smirked; he'd expected so. Naruto shrugged it off dismissively. He'd already accomplished it before so it wasn't a big deal. "You can rest for a little while, but soon you must report to the arena. We have to have preliminaries—"

"What?" Sakura asked, a frown marring her features. "Preliminaries? I thought we went right to the semi-finals." She said, obviously bewildered.

"Usually, yes," Iruka confirmed. "However, many more than expected have passed this year, so you have to fight extra rounds to eliminate the competition. Sorry, guys," he grinned apologetically. "I'm sure you'll do great though."

"Of course," Naruto said seriously. "We're together in this. We'll do it."

Iruka smiled. He was proud of him; always so sentimental. He chuckled at the thought of hard-headed Naruto being the one to give all the martyr speeches. "The preliminaries will start instantly, so be ready in case you're chosen first." He advised. The three nodded curtly in response. Dropping his serious mode, he smiled and clapped Naruto on the shoulder. "Do your best, guys. I know you can do it."

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei." Naruto said as his eyes shone. He was lucky to have someone like Iruka – he was as close to Hoshiko-sensei as anyone could get. Well, aside from Hoshiko's strange obsession with something called 'yaoi'. Naruto didn't know what that was and he had a feeling he didn't _want_ to know.

O—o—O—o—O

All of the teams that had passed were assembled in the inside arena. At first everyone had been talkative and excited about everything, but once the Hokage had entered, everyone was tense, silent and awed. They remained still and quiet as the Sandaime nodded to them in recognition. "Congratulations on passing the second part of the Chuunin exams. I am sure you are all proud of your achievements, and you should be." He was glad to see the teams smiling at one another. Excluding a few, who consisted of Uchiha Sasuke, Subaku no Gaara and Hyuuga Neji. It was unfortunate that they thought themselves above everyone as not to applaud their own team. Dismissing it, he continued, "I assume you are all tired, but I regret to say that preliminary exams are required as there are more of you than usual this time. I must say I am impressed. Konoha shinobi are always improving, as are you evidently." He smiled at them all.

Naruto sighed in boredom and stuffed his hands in his pockets. _Wrap it up, Jiji. I've been through this tiresome speech before and it was boring even then._ He thought sulkily. He only began paying attention when the word "break," was mentioned. He blinked in confusion.

"Ah, I'm glad we get to have a break." Sakura sighed happily. "If only for an hour, it's still something. We can prepare." She elaborated, stretching and smiling. Naruto slumped in aggravation.

"A break?" he repeated in annoyance. "We're having… a break?" he muttered. Sakura nodded enthusiastically, looking grateful. Naruto groaned.

"Hey, Naruto-taichou—" a voice said. Naruto turned hastily and scowled. "Uh, I mean, gaki," Genma grinned apologetically whilst the blond rolled his eyes. "I'll be judging the preliminaries and the finals. You'd better get on my good side or I'll fail you." He said.

"Genmaaaa!" the blond groaned. He then leant up to whisper, "You'll pay for that in training. And you're paying for my ramen next time." He pulled back, smiling too-sweetly whilst Genma paled dramatically. "So, wanna go start the never-ending debts now? I have a one-hour break. Let's get ramen." He then waved to Iruka. "Oi, Iruka-senseiiii! Me 'n' my _buddy_ here are gonna go get some ramen! Wanna come with?" he called.

"I'm not paying!" the brunet said crossly, but he was just joking.

"No worries!" the blond gave his trademark grin. "Genma is."

"Oh, well then, I'm all for it!" the brunet jogged up to them.

"N—not fair, guys…" the senbon-wielder murmured. Naruto just grinned mischievously.

Sasuke and Sakura watched the display in puzzlement. How did Naruto know the instructor, and why did he first call the blond "Taichou"?

O—o—O—o—O

"So, how did your exams go?" Kakashi asked curiously. He had 'randomly' shown up as soon as Naruto, Iruka and Genma had arrived at Ichiraku.

Naruto finished slurping up his noodles and sighing in blissful contentment before he answered, "Fine." He answered simply.

"That was rather anti-climactic." Genma murdered. He gulped when Naruto shot him an evil smirk.

"You should be more specific with your questions, sensei." He advised the silver-haired Jounin after leaving Genma to sulk in his impending doom. Kakashi smiled at his slyness.

"I suppose you're right, Naruto," he said. The blond tensed slightly when he said his name with slight affection.

"Um… I have to go now," Naruto voiced. He stood up. "There's not long left before the preliminaries start, so I should get back. Come on, Genma." He said, dragging the elder man by his sleeve. He hastily placed the correct amount of money on the counter before the blond dragged him away. "See you, Iruka-sensei… Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi frowned slightly. _Why does Naruto seem to distant towards me?_ he thought almost sullenly. He shook the feeling off and stood. "Well, I suppose I'll be going as well then." He said absently.

"Aren't you going back to the arena to watch your students?" Iruka asked sceptically. Kakashi turned to him and his nonchalant offhandedness irritated the brunet. "You have a responsibility to take care of your students, Kakashi-san, and I would appreciate it if you—"

"Yes," Kakashi interrupted, making the brunet snap his mouth shut. He appraised the Jounin silently. "You're right, Iruka-san." He sighed. "It's just…"

"Talk to Naruto," Iruka advised. Kakashi's head snapped up and he stared intently at the brunet man. "Naruto… he acts so brave and happy but… he's still just a child. I know he's a shinobi and I appreciate that, but… the fact remains that he is only twelve. He can't handle everything by himself, despite his martyr complex." Iruka smiled absently at that but soon continued, "He doesn't usually open up to people – not honestly, at least. I don't see the 'real' Naruto often, and when I do, it breaks my heart because whenever I see the cracks in his mask…" Iruka's eyes looked pained and he clenched his fists tightly. "He just looks so _broken_." There was a tense, overwrought silence before the brunet shook his head. "I'm sure if you talk to him, he'll open up more and possibly trust you in the future. If you hurt him though…" Iruka sent him a warning glare.

"I won't. I'd never do such a thing." Kakashi vowed, his eyes holding serious severity. Iruka scrutinised him momentarily before nodding and making his way to the academy.

"I'm afraid I have classes to teach," he said. "So take care of Naruto for me."

Even after Iruka was gone, Kakashi stood there, thinking over his words before saying quietly, "I will, Iruka, I will."

O—o—O—o—O

All of the Genin lined up and awaited the discovery of the first match in anxiety, most hoping that they weren't first, some not caring, and some excited. The screen paused after shifting through all of the names and Genma dispassionately called out, "The first match is: Yamanaka Ino versus Haruno Sakura." He said, chewing on his senbon. "Everyone excluding the two fighters ascend the stairs and watch from above." He ordered.

Everyone's eyes widened in astonishment. Sakura and Ino's fists clenched and they stared intently at the floor, surprised. _Deep down, I knew this would come. We couldn't pretend forever_, Ino thought as she looked up and her cobalt eyes met jade green ones.

_Now is the time I will show you just what I can do…_ thought Sakura as she got into position.

_I will defeat you!_ both thought resolutely.

O—o—O—o—O

"Naruto," a familiar voice said. The addressed blond boy looked up blankly to meet Kakashi's one visible eye. "Can I speak with you?"

**KakaNaru—SasuNaru—KakaNaru**

**Gosangoku: Sorry for the long-awaited update! I've been distracted by manga… —**_**Scratches head sheepishly**_**— But, here ya go! Next update won't take as long. Hopefully… Anyway! R&R please! It isn't obligatory, but it'd be cool if you did! And you know the drill, I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto-sama does.**


	9. Hard To Keep Secrets

Naruto inwardly groaned but outwardly he plastered on a fake baffled face. "You want to speak with me, Kakashi-sensei?" he repeated, sounding puzzled and secretly rolling his eyes at his attempted idiocy. He was so good at acting – he should get an award. "But, Sakura's and Ino's match is starting! We'll miss it." He said, tilting his head to add to his faux confusion.

Kakashi frowned momentarily. "Yes…" he agreed. "But, it's rather important."

"More important than your own student's match?" Naruto argued with an irritated expression which he hastily hid when Kakashi's eyes were back on him.

"You're my student too, Naruto." He informed the boy, who twitched in response.

_I'm an ANBU, damn you! Damn this mission…_ he thought miserably. Sighing in resignation, he spared a glance back to the two girls' who were preparing to fight. "Sakura!" he called. The rosette girl's head snapped up, as did the other girl's. Both had an expression akin to agitation on their faces at being interrupted. "Do your best. I know you can do it." He said, forcing a grin. Sakura blinked and then smirked back before getting into a defensive stance. Naruto then turned to Kakashi with a blank expression. "Alright, let's go, Hatake." He muttered as he reluctantly began walking away. Kakashi followed suit, frowning in confusion at Naruto's impoliteness.

Sasuke watched them leave with narrowed eyes. "That Dobe is…" he began before pursing his lips and folding his arms and leaning against the wall, haphazardly watching the match about to take place despite his mind being elsewhere.

Genma stared nonchalantly at the two girl's and vaguely noticed something. _That pink one is one Naruto-taichou's team. Hmm… let's see if he's taught her anything…_

"Let the match begin!"

O—o—O—o—O

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Naruto pried and shoved his hands in his pockets with a blasé aura of indifference. Kakashi hesitated briefly.

"Would you like to go somewhere?" he enquired breezily in his always-nonchalant manner. Naruto shrugged and opened his mouth before Kakashi oh-so-rudely cut him off by saying, "Anywhere but Ichiraku's. You have to eat healthy food once in a while." To that, Naruto pouted a real pout. He did not like being deprived of his precious ramen, thank you very much!

"There's only one other place other than Ichiraku's I like to go," Naruto murmured quietly. "If you want food, we should go get some first 'cause I always go to the Hokage monument."

"The KIA stone is near there…" Kakashi mused out-loud.

Naruto didn't reply. He knew that Kakashi's team-mate's had died. Some of his had, too. He didn't like bringing it up and he assumed the silver-haired many didn't appreciate it either. "Let's get dango." He decided, heading in that direction.

"It's not exactly healthy," Kakashi said amusedly. The blond shrugged.

"Sugar is good for you sometimes," he argued. "So quit complaining." He added. They soon arrived at the stands and stalls that had tonnes of food. Naruto bounded up to the dango stand, ignoring the glares and glowers he received. He seemed to be oblivious to them but Kakashi knew that he was just disregarding them. It made his heart lurch, but the blond seemed content. "Excuse me," Naruto said politely and kindly to the vendor, who just scowled back at him.

"What do you want, bozu?" the guy muttered huskily. He was middle-aged. He was obviously around for the Kyuubi's attack.

Naruto just beamed back at him despite the man's rudeness. "Could I please have some dango?" before the man could argue, he hastily added, "It's for Hatake Kakashi-sensei." At that, the man blinked in surprise and, seeing the silver-haired Jounin behind the blond youth, he nodded numbly and retrieved the treats. He gingerly handed them to Naruto as if the boy were something repulsive.

"Four hundred yen," the man murmured. Naruto nodded and paid up with his precious Gama-chan.

"Thank you, Takeshi-san." The boy said, smiling serenely at the man, who narrowed his eyes.

"How do you know my name, kuso gaki?" he grumbled moodily. Naruto just pointed to his nametag. The guy huffed. "Whatever. Get going. I don't need your sort 'round 'ere." The guy muttered. Naruto turned to leave and Kakashi began to follow as he heard the man yell, "You're welcome 'ere anytime, Hatake-san!"

The blond wasn't fazed.

They walked up to the Hokage monument together and Naruto lingered a moment longer than necessary when they passed the Yondaime's face. They sat on top of it. Naruto opened the napkin and handed two dango sticks to Kakashi and then took two for himself and began eating silently.

Kakashi found himself staring at the blond as he ate. His tongue whipped out and slowly and sensually (well, it only appeared sensual to Kakashi – Naruto was oblivious to the pervert). He sucked the tip of it before gently licking it again and biting it.

Kakashi wondered what it would be like if it were him…

His eyes widened and he almost jumped off of the Hokage monument. _Bad thoughts, bad thoughts…_ he told himself heatedly.

"Kakashi-sensei?" a voice interrupted his pity-party. "Is something wrong?" the innocent and naïve blond asked with a frown. Kakashi's visible eye curved into an upside down 'U'.

"No, no. I'm fine." He said. Naruto didn't look convinced but nodded in response anyway.

Several moments of silence reigned uncomfortably and Kakashi found himself wishing that the blond would start talking. He cleared his throat but Naruto had no reaction. "I like it up here." Naruto finally said.

"Oh? Why is that?" Kakashi asked curiously. The blond looked up at him and scrutinised him. "Is something the matter?" the silver-haired Jounin asked after a moment of appraisal.

"No," Naruto replied. "I just wanted to know if you were patronising me or not. People do that a lot," he explained. He then turned to Kakashi again with a slightly hurt expression, but he covered it immediately with a blank mask. "I'm not stupid." He stated.

Kakashi appeared surprised. "I never implied that you were." He said cautiously. The blond stared vacantly at him for another moment before nodding curtly.

"Good," he said. "I'd have to beat you up if you thought I was."

Kakashi's lips quirked into a small smile at that. "Oh really?" he challenged. "You think you can take me on?"

"I can take you on, kick your ass and eat ramen at the same time. Bring it. I'll be ready."

Kakashi decided to test that statement and threw a well-aimed kunai at Naruto who easily caught it between his fingers and flung it back. Kakashi dodged but the blond smirked. The kunai was thrown back from the bushes and a shadow clone smiled from behind the foliage. The silver-haired Jounin just about avoided it but it did graze his right arm. "Injured by a Genin," he sighed and shook his head. "How I have fallen."

Naruto scowled at him. "You'd be surprised just how much you'll fall from the edge of this monument if you continue to insult me, Hatake." He muttered. The silver-haired man raised a brow in silent inquiring, but the blond turned away.

"So…" Kakasho drawled. "Tell me about yourself."

Naruto didn't tense like he'd expected him to, but his eyes got a shade darker. _His emotions are concealed very well… a skill that ANBUs possess…_ he mused.

"What is there to tell?" the boy murmured in response, avoiding the question smartly.

"Likes, dislikes, past…" Kakashi offered.

"You don't inform anyone of your past. Why should I reveal my own?" the blond countered guardedly. Kakashi's eyes darkened as well.

"That's different," he argued. Naruto clenched his fists.

"How so? Because I'm a Jinchuuriki?" the blond snapped.

"Naruto, you aren't authorised to speak of that." He reprimanded with his uncharacteristic scowl of disapproval.

"I am the container of a Bijuu. Why shouldn't I?" he smirked dryly. "Doesn't everyone think I'm the monster anyway? Why hide anything?"

"Naruto…" Kakashi said in a warning tone but with a sad baritone.

"Whatever," Naruto shrugged dismissively. "Fine, I'll tell you more about myself," he said, pausing to add a dramatic affect. Kakashi leaned forward expectantly. "I…" the silver-haired man almost fell over with the way he was sitting on the edge of a tree-stump. Feeling victorious, Naruto finally said, "Don't like telling people about myself."

"…" Kakashi stared blankly at Naruto before he let out a chuckle. "Well, I suppose I should have realised that then."

"Hmm," the blond mumbled as he stared out onto the village. "I… love Konoha," he said so softly that Kakashi almost didn't hear him despite his perceptive shinobi skills. "Despite everything – the Kyuubi, the hatred of the villagers, the deaths that we've all witnessed and bee burdened of… I still love Konoha, and… I want to protect it." His eyes gleamed with resolve ad he stood up. He didn't look innocent and adorable then. He looked mature and dignified as his sunshine-blond hair flew around in the wind and his sapphire eyes stared determinedly at the town below him. "I want to become Hokage."

O—o—O—o—O

"Wh—where is Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked worriedly. "He—he's not here…" she explained softly. Kiba glanced at her and made a curious noise, and then looked around the entire arena.

"You're right," he nodded, scratching the back of his head. "Well…"

"He left with Hatake-san," Shino mumbled almost inaudibly.

"Eh?" Kiba asked, surprised. "I didn't notice." He confessed sheepishly.

"You never pay attention to much," the bug-user muttered without lifting his gaze from Ino's and Sakura's battle below. Kiba just pouted, causing Hinata to stifle a small giggle.

Similar lavender eyes to Hinata's glared at her from a few feet away irately. "I will defeat you to prove my worth to the main branch…"

O—o—O—o—O

"How do you think Sakura's fight is going?" Kakashi asked. Naruto didn't make any movements for a moment and the silver-haired man thought he hadn't heard the question. He was about to repeat it when Naruto opened his mouth slightly. Kakashi wondered what it would be like if… _Oh, crap._ He hastily shook his head.

"Sakura and Ino have been friends since they were young. Despite their sudden rivalry, no one can deny that they care for each other," the blond said almost inaudibly. "I can tell. Besides, I think it's disgusting when people give up friendship and companionship just for something trivial like a boy," his eyes narrowed. "It's not how anyone should handle things – not a shinobi, not even normal people. It's stupid and petty. Despite that…" his eyes got far away. "They care for each other still. They hide their true feelings behind a mask of rage…"

Kakashi remained silent, not knowing what to say to the blond boy before him. The reason being… Naruto was right. Shinobi's hid behind masks – they aren't really tools. They're only humans, and humans cannot give up their emotions no matter what. They hid everything behind dissimilar façades.

"Neither will win," Naruto finished. "That's what people say when it's a draw. But…" he turned to Kakashi with his blank expression but it slowly dissolved into a very small smile, which the Jounin was entranced by. "I say… they'll both win." He concluded.

Kakashi continued staring at his student in inaudible awe. "Naruto…" he said softly. The blond tensed at the unfamiliar gentle tone with slightly wide eyes. He looked so small – so young. "You're strangely sentimental for someone so young." He said seriously, buck chuckled to rid himself of the oddly severe feeling.

Naruto's tenseness became more apparent and he turned away from the Jounin again. "Yeah, well," he said, trying to sound offhanded but a faraway look in his eyes said otherwise. "Some people have seen enough in their lifetimes to say such things."

The silver-haired man stopped chuckling and regarded his student critically. The boy was correct as usual. Kakashi shouldn't have been surprised by Naruto's accurateness anymore, as he had proved himself time and again. Despite that, he was always amazed by the blond boy's views and predictions.

Kakashi was brought out of his musings by a stifled yawn. His lips twitched and he was grateful that he had a mask on to disguise it. "Are you tired?" he asked with laughter in his voice.

Naruto was rubbing an eye with the back of his fist in a childish fashion but as soon as his sensei spoke, he hastily dropped his hand and willed away a blush. "Of course not," he said, abashed. "I… my eye itched." He said lamely.

"Of course," the Jounin agreed amusedly. "Maybe you should go home and rest. Sakura's and Ino's fight will be the only one today," he said. Seeing the blond boy's blank but curious look—he didn't know how he could see the emotions in Naruto. It was most likely the boy's eyes; his feelings were so open. After all, they said that eye were the windows to the soul—he elaborated, "The Hokage informed me that their fight would most likely take a while and judging by everyone appearances, the Genin were exhausted. He said there would only be one fight."

Naruto immediately looked furious. "If he knew that everyone was exhausted, why make two of them fight? That's hardly fair," he hissed angrily.

"I'm not sure. You know the Hokage," Kakashi shrugged dismissively.

"I don't care who he thinks he is. Whether he's the Hokage or not, he shouldn't let two fatigued people fight and yet let everyone else go home to rest and prepare for their fights." He ground out. He appeared calm, but Kakashi could see the fire in the sapphire eyes. He was speechless by the boy's fury. Checking himself, Naruto jerked as if coming out of a trance. He turned away again – a sign Kakashi realised was one of awkwardness or uncomfortable feelings. "Sorry. I… it's hard to keep my temper in check sometimes," the boy said quietly. _I'm usually so good at hiding my emotions. Why is it different with Hatake?_ He thought desperately.

"It's not a problem. I understand," the Jounin replied softly.

An uncomfortable silence slipped in before Naruto glanced at the sun's direction and abruptly said, "I have to go."

Kakashi looked at him strangely. "Why?" he enquired suspiciously.

"I'm late," the blond responded, ignoring the suspiciousness in his sensei's tone.

"What for?" the man persisted. Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"You say you should trust your team-mates," he hissed lethally. "But you don't trust me in the least. It was a mistake talking to you," he said with a slightly raised voice, and then added under his breath, "You're just like everyone else." And he leapt off the Hokage monument and disappeared into the village somewhere.

Kakashi was certain he wasn't supposed to hear Naruto's near-silent whisper, but he did. And he didn't like it… most likely because he found it to be true. The boy's words replayed in his mind and he cursed himself. He needed to figure out the enigma that was Naruto, and he needed to gain the boy's trust. He soon realised just how difficult it was.

O—o—O—o—O

A certain team awaited their captain to show up. "Where do you think he is?" Hayate asked and promptly coughed afterwards.

"Hell if I know," Anko shrugged. "He was at the preliminaries, I know that. One of his team-mate's are fighting. Haruno Sakura, I think." She shrugged offhandedly.

"He went to talk to Kakashi," Genma supplied. "I saw them walking off just as the fight started." He explained.

"That reminds me," Raidou said quietly and gruffly. "How did you get permission to leave? You were supposed to be judging the preliminaries, right?" he enquired.

"My, my, Raidou," Anko smirked and nudged the burn-victim suggestively. "Why the sudden interest in Genma's life, eh?" she winked.

"Huh?" Raidou asked innocently. "What are you insinuating—oh! A—Anko!" he squeaked, flushing bright crimson when he caught the meaning. The purple-haired woman laughed heartily with a huge grin plastered on her face. "Wh—whatever! Just answer, Genma." Raidou huffed.

Genma smirked and folded his arms and said, "I got permission, obviously. Like you all did as well. Hokage-sama gave us a mission, so naturally he let us leave."

"Who took your place as a proctor?" Hayate asked with a cough that was muffled by his fist.

"I think it was Kotetsu. Izumo as there, naturally," he said, chuckling. He suddenly smirked. "You think there's somethin' goin' on between them?" he asked evocatively. Raidou's blush became even more apparent and Hayate's cheeks became a dusty pink as well. Anko just barked a laugh again.

A sudden burst of smoke brought them out of their joking mood. They turned to the source of it and a certain blond captain emerged with a stoic expression on his face. His ANBU team immediately realised something was wrong with the boy. Raidou frowned in concern and Genma placed a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

"Taichou, what's wrong?" all four members demanded.

Genma felt the boy tense slightly underneath his hand but he just shook his head. "Nothing," he said quietly.

"You were with Kakashi just now, right?" Raidou asked instantly as his frown deepened.

Naruto lowered his eyes to the floor. "Yes," he answered. "But, it doesn't matter—"

"The hell it doesn't!" Anko shouted irately. "We're your team, Taichou! If someone hurts you, we'll kick their ass! Who gives a fuck who they are? They'll so fuckin' pay for hurtin' our captain!" she shouted heatedly. A chorus of agreements responded and Naruto smiled truly at them, to which they all froze and stared in awe for the few precious seconds that the blond boy revealed his true feelings and a true smile.

"Taichou…" Raidou said weakly. "You should… smile more often." He gasped when he realised what he said and blushed again, whilst Genma and Anko smirked, Hayate smiled and Naruto's eyes widened and blushed as well. The boy cleared his throat awkwardly, not used to praise. He slipped on his mask.

"We must start our mission," he said blankly. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," all of them agreed with steely eyes. "We're ready." _We're ready to complete this mission and make you happy, Taichou. Whatever it takes, we'll make sure you're content. You deserve no less._

O—o—O—o—O

"Why is Naruto meeting up with those guys? And they aren't even ANBU's," Kakashi said in bewilderment, frowning. Curiosity getting the better of him, he followed.

O—o—O—o—O

The four ANBU's groaned as their Taichou feasibly dashed up the mountain after letting the soles of his feet fill with chakra. "Hurry up, guys!" Naruto called down sternly. "The sun is setting; it's getting dark. If we keep going for just another hour, we'll arrive at Sunagakure. Oh, and watch out for random snakes, scorpions and tarantulas." He added merrily.

Hearing those words of encouragement, the team sped up.

O—o—O—o—O

The team of ANBU's followed their captain silently, appraising him. He looked exhausted and slightly paler than usual. They frowned worriedly. They would converse with one another to voice their worries but it was pointless because Naruto's well-trained hearing would easily pick up on their conversation and he would hastily just brush off their fears, and they already knew that the others felt the same worry for the boy. They were all thankful that they were just about reaching the border to Sunagakure – their captain needed a good rest.

The temperature was steadily getting colder. After all, it was a desert and at nights it did drop to a low temperature. The four ANBU's shivered slightly and groaned. "Taichouuu," Genma whined. "It's cold."

"I know," the blond replied with a slightly shaky voice. The team's heads shot up and scrutinised him. His teeth were chattering lightly and his shoulders were shaking due to the cold. Despite that, his cheeks were somewhat flushed. His eyes were droopy and he looked about ready to collapse. They had been complaining from a slight chill whilst the blond was rapidly gaining a fever?

"Do you need help, Taichou?" Hayate asked with a quiet cough.

"No," Naruto replied instantly, obviously resistant to gaining any type of help from anyone. "Thanks anyway, Hayate." He added with a weak smile.

"If you say so, Taichou…" the dark-haired man replied hoarsely, knowing that persisting would be pointless as Naruto did not like accepting help, despite his martyr complex. He helped other people but didn't let other people help him. Sometimes, it was infuriating.

"Ah, we're here!" Anko exclaimed in relief apparent in her voice. Not wanting to be viewed as affectionate or motherly, she hastily declared, "I'm gonna go straight to the sake and dango joints!"

The team chuckled at her brashness. "Genma, Raidou and Hayate can join you if you would like." Naruto said in a blasé manner. The others backtracked.

"But, Taichou… the mission—" Hayate began fruitlessly.

"It's alright," Naruto assured them. "I'm just delivering a report to Gaara. I'll be fine. I can take care of myself, guys," he smirked. "I'm not some helpless maiden."

"You so are. In more ways than one," Genma muttered, earning a hard whack over the head from Naruto, whose eyes were slightly amused but also irritated and serious.

"Genma…" he warned.

"Okay, okay! I got it! Rule number two: Don't insult Taichou," he said with a heavy sigh.

"What's rule number one?" Hayate asked curiously. Anko and Genma paled whilst Naruto beamed.

"Rule number one: Buy Taichou all the ramen he demands." The two horrified ANBU's murmured weakly. Hayate smiled and Raidou chuckled faintly.

"H—how terrible," Raidou said sympathetically.

"Not for you!" Anko shouted angrily. "Only me 'n' Genma 'ere get stuck with buyin' the kid ramen! Our bills skyrocket!" she wailed.

"I think I want some ramen, Anko," Naruto suddenly said. The woman's brown eyes widened in horror.

"No! Taichou, spare me! Take Genma!" she cried.

"O—oi! Don't bring me into this, woman!" the brunet man shouted.

"Just kidding," Naruto laughed softly. Raidou joined him and Hayate just continued smiling serenely. The two terrified ANBU's sighed in relief. "In any case, I have to get this report to Gaara. I'll meet up with you at Gaara's house later. You know where it is, right?"

"Yeah," the others chorused.

"Cool. Later," he offered as a goodbye and promptly vanished as he picked up speed.

"So…" Anko said with a whistle. "Wanna go get some sake?"

"You're buying," Genma declared. Anko's jaw dropped.

"What? No way! You pay!"

"Why should I? It was your idea!"

"Yeah, I came up with the idea so I should get the credit and you should pay!"

"Why don't Raidou and Hayate have to pay?"

"D—don't bring us into this!"

"'Cause I don't find them annoying!"

"Oh, and I am?"

"Guys…"

"Yes! You're an annoying bastard!"

"Guys…"

"And you're a psycho bitch!"

"Guys!" Raidou screamed. Everyone became silent and stared at the usually quiet man. Raidou cleared his throat and blushed, embarrassed. "I'll pay if it will shut you up."

Genma slung an arm around his shoulders. "Naw, I'll pay for you and Hayate, but not that bitch."

"Say that to my face, jackass!"

"Sure thing, bitch."

"Argh…" Raidou groaned. Hayate patted his back comfortingly a sympathetically.

O—o—O—o—O

"Hey, Gaara," an unusually jovial voice said softly.

"Naruto," the Kazekage acknowledged.

Gaara had become the Kazekage just a year ago. It was mainly thanks to Naruto. As he had become an ANBU at such a young age, the blond had already partaken in various dangerous missions. Numerous ones of those were being reporting to Sunagakure. Naruto always had to play the martyr and when Gaara had lost himself to Shukaku once, the blond fought him and beat him back to reality with one of his heroic speeches.

After witnessing the astounding battle and realising the two boy's talents, the present Kazekage at the time—who was, coincidentally, Gaara's father—decided that his son was actually an excellent fighter and strategist. If he just learnt to control Shukaku and stop being so careless, he would be a fantastic leader. With another prompt from Naruto, Gaara had soon become Kazekage.

"I brought the report," Naruto said tiredly. Gaara finally registered the weariness in the slightly shorter boy's voice and looked up from his desk. He nodded in response and waited for Naruto to get the document out of his backpack. Once he did, he handed it to the redhead.

"You should get some rest," the Kazekage pointed out impassively.

"I'm not tired," the blond replied.

"You're lying," Gaara muttered, glaring accusingly. The blond smiled apologetically.

"Sorry," he said, a bit sheepishly. "You're right. I haven't slept much for the past couple of days." He sighed resignedly.

"Is it Uchiha?" the redhead asked stoically, but fury was apparent if you had known him for years. The blond smiled at his over-protectiveness.

"Partly," he admitted. "But it's mostly…" his gaze lowered. "Hatake."

Gaara was silent for a moment before blinking slowly and enquiring, "Hatake Kakashi?"

Naruto huffed quietly and nodded. "Yeah, him," he mumbled begrudgingly.

The redhead surveyed his old friend for a while. He could tell that the boy was exhausted and he seemed to have a slight fever. Gaara's nonexistent brow furrowed. "Where are your team?" he asked bluntly.

"Eh?" the blond blinked, obviously fatigue getting the better of him. "Oh, right," he chuckled sheepishly. "I told them to go have fun 'round town and stuff."

"They left you?" Gaara asked in a steely voice.

"They didn't want to! I told them to," Naruto hastily defended them.

The redhead grunted in exasperation. He shook his head. Despite being an ANBU and losing his sensei at such a young age, the blond was so godamned nice, and that was why Gaara was extremely protective of the boy, which was also why he would kick Hatake Kakashi's ass if he hurt Naruto.

Sighing in defeat, Gaara stood up and said, "I'll escort you to your room."

Naruto blushed slightly and glared. "You're treating me like a girl."

"Aren't I supposed to?"

"Gaara!"

O—o—O—o—O

"Well, uh, thanks for bringing me here, I guess," Naruto said awkwardly, scratching his head uncomfortably.

"You're welcome," Gaara said tonelessly, staring blankly at the blond.

"Um, so, I'm just gonna…" Naruto pointed to the door. "Go inside… now."

"Alright," the redhead responded, not moving.

"…"

"…"

"…Gaara."

"Hn?"

"You can go now."

"Hn."

"Argh! Stop it! You sound like Uchiha," Naruto grumbled, resisting the urge to pout.

"If you don't want me here, then," Gaara said, turning away. Naruto blinked and grabbed his arm.

"You know that's not what I meant! Why are you so difficult?" he sighed in exasperation. "Come on then, Mister I-won't-leave-without-a-goodnight-kiss, come in." Naruto huffed as he opened the door and entered. Gaara followed behind silently.

O—o—O—o—O

Genma poked Gaara with his toe whilst Anko and Hayate held back a protective Raidou. The redhead's eyes flew open; he wasn't asleep. He never was.

"Yo, kid," the senbon user said. "Would you mind telling us why you're holding our Taichou?"

Gaara blinked slowly before looking down and realising that he had his arms wrapped around the blond. His eyes widened a fraction and he let the blond go, standing. He turned to leave the room, ignoring the irate shouts of Raidou.

"I guess no one can resist our captain," Anko said, smirking.

"That is so wrong," Genma snickered.

"Be quiet, you two!" Raidou hissed angrily.

"What's got your panties in a twist?" Genma enquired and raised his brows. He smirked when Raidou's face reddened to a deep crimson colour.

"Taichou is asleep," Hayate murmured with a small cough. Everyone instantly became silent.

There was a sudden noise outside and they all started. The four got into protective stances in front of their slumbering Taichou. "Show yourself," Genma ordered.

The person came through the window with his hands up showing he came in peace. The team's eyes widened.

"You…!"

**KakaNaru—SasuNaru—KakaNaru**

**Gosangoku: I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto Masashi-sama does, which should be obvious. I'd appreciate reviews, but you don't have to.**


	10. Newfound Trust

Naruto instantly awoke upon hearing his comrade's surprised exclamation as not many shinobi could sneak past his team's guarded detection. The infiltrator had to be at ANBU level, the blond realised vaguely. He remained motionless and silent, awaiting the opportune moment to intervene.

"Why are you here?" Anko's constantly-calm voice demanded with a hint of rage lingering beneath the surface.

"Do you even have permission to be out here? If you don't, I suggest you go back," Raidou advised rationally. "You could get in trouble." Strangely, he sounded rather irritated as well. What could possibly make _Raidou_ aggravated? …Apart from Genma's inconsistent flirting, but no one needed to know about that.

The infiltrator's chakra seemed to flare a bit. He was obviously irate for some reason or another. Oddly enough, however, Naruto couldn't recognise the chakra. He did, though, hear the infiltrator's voice and it almost made the blond gasp when he realised who it was.

"Why is my student here with you?" demanded the infiltrator.

_Hatake…_ Naruto apprehended. _Did he follow us here? If so, I should have noticed him. What's happening with the Kyuubi…?_ He wondered, getting slightly worried. _It doesn't matter_, he scolded himself. _Stop being selfish. You have to put your team-mate's before you, and you have to protect Uchiha. Hoshiko-sensei would have wanted that…_

At the fleeting thought of his old sensei, he felt a pang in his heart, but he hastily suppressed it. "_Don't dwell on the past_,"Hoshiko had told him once.

He was brought out of his depressing thoughts by Genma muttering in his usual bored tone, "We don't know what you're talkin' about, Kakashi."

"We don't have any of your students with us," Hayate agreed, disguising a cough behind his fist.

"Why the heck are you even here? You shouldn't be. And we don't have your students so you can—" Anko halted when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Naruto staring blankly into Kakashi's eyes. "Taichou…?" she muttered.

"Anko, stop it," the blond reprimanded. "I'll handle this. You guys go and get some sake or something, alright? I'll see you later."

"You're a liar," Kakashi suddenly hissed tonelessly yet accusingly.

Naruto's comrades tensed in anger and were prepared to defend him before the blond said softly, "Is that so? Well, Anko, Raidou, Hayate, Genma… would you mind steeping outside for a while? Hatake and I are going to have a chat, I presume." His tone was overly calm and casual, and his comrades knew that the kid was upset, but he was their captain and he wanted them to go, so what choice was there?

His team were about to argue when Genma nodded. "Alright," he said, ignoring his comrade's astounded looks. "Let's go, guys." Without waiting for their acquiescence, he pushed them all out of the door and closed it.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Anko whirled around and glared darkly at him. "What the _fuck_ is wrong with you, Shiranui?" she demanded furiously. "Taichou can't handle this alone. He's just a kid—"

"He may be just a kid," said Raidou softly. "But he's also our captain. He can handle Kakashi – he's strong enough."

"So you don't care about him either?" the purple-haired woman demanded, rage flaring in her brown eyes. "How can you just—?"

"Anko, that's enough," Genma said quietly but sternly. "Taichou's always been tough. He is a kid, but he's also our captain, like Raidou said." Raidou flushed slightly at this and stared at his feet. "He can deal with Kakashi, alright? And get over yourself, 'cause it's not like we don't wanna help Taichou either."

Anko tensed at that and stared at Raidou's worried face and Hayate's nervous one. She scowled slightly before sighing irately and nodded jerkily.

"Fine," she said. "Let's go get some sake. It was an order, right?"

"Sure," Genma said with a smirk. "But I'm not payin'."

"Heck yeah you are, damn it!"

"No way, bitch!"

"Shut _up_, both of you!"

"It's no use"—cough—"Raidou; they'll never stop."

"Let's ditch them."

"R—Raidou!"

**O—o—O—o—O**

An uncomfortable silence reigned over the dark room, lit only dimly by the faint glow of the full moon in the sky outside the window. Both people in the room stood immobile and soundlessly before Naruto broke the silence, feeling tired. "Hatake, I'm kinda tired so if you don't mind…"

He was pinned to the wall in a second and both of Kakashi's arms were by his head, preventing him from moving. He'd seen it coming and he _could_ escape if he wanted to, but he didn't. Call him masochistic, but he welcomed pain. Anything but the numb sensations he felt all the time. He didn't like the numbness.

"You're a liar," Kakashi repeated.

"Same page, same book. Turn a page, why don't you?" Naruto retorted. _Ha, that's such an old comeback. I like it though. Hoshiko-sensei used to say it_.

Kakashi's eye narrowed and be brought back his fist. He met Naruto's challenging eyes which only proved to infuriate him further, and h struck the blond. The sound of the punch echoed throughout the empty room and Naruto slowly let his head—which had turned to the side from the force of the blow—turn to meet Kakashi's eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?" the Jounin demanded, looking rage-filled and mistrustful.

"It was a mission," replied Naruto blandly, looking bored and blasé.

"To lie to me?" the silver-haired man hissed.

"Don't be idiotic," snapped the blond. "My mission was and still is to protect Uchiha Sasuke. I can't tell you more than that. Ask the old man if you want. I don't think he'll be happy with you, though," Naruto said quietly. "You shouldn't have just left Konoha like that."

"As if you can talk," Kakashi spat. "You—"

"_What_ did I do Kakashi? I lied, yes. I pretended to be someone I'm not, if you think so. I'm a monster, yeah. I don't give a _fuck_ what you or anyone else thinks." _Because I'm over it_.

"Was it _all_ a lie?" the Jounin asked quietly, once more meeting Naruto's cerulean eyes which were now getting darker, but not cerise. "Being friends with everyone, becoming Hokage…"

"No," Naruto denied immediately but impassively.

Kakashi looked up in slight surprise. "No…?" he repeated slowly.

Naruto laughed, but it was hollow. "For someone so smart, you sure are stupid." He shook his head. "I never pretend to that extent. I may have concealed my true emotions"—_if I have any left_, the blond thought, inwardly sniggering—"but I never pretend to like someone. I don't like hurting people." And for just a moment, he let his guard down and let raw emotion flare through his eyes swiftly—so much pain, anguish, remorse, unjust sadness and vulnerability that no child should hold—before they were blank once more.

The Jounin, stunned, let his grip on the blond loosen. "Naruto…" he said quietly, and his visible features contorted into a pain frown, confusing Naruto.

_What's wrong with him? Has he been poisoned or something?_ Wondered Naruto, prepared to extract the poison from the man's system—he had learnt his fair share of medical jutsu; it was a necessary requirement for being an ANBU Black Ops captain—when he was suddenly enveloped in a tight embrace. Confounded and astonished, Naruto actually let out a gasp of shock and he jolted still.

"Ha…take…?" he said slowly, questioningly. He repressed the fear in his voice. No one apart from Hoshiko had hugged him before, and this was… it was different and scary, but also… comforting.

Kakashi felt Naruto trembling slightly before the boy blocked his emotions and halted still.

"It's okay, Naruto," he said. "It's alright to show emotions sometimes. You can be angry, scared or sad… it's okay. If you ever need help… I know you're an ANBU Black Ops captain, but still… if you ever… need anything, you can count on me, alright?"

If Naruto wasn't so good at being stoic and blocking out his emotions, he would have broke down and cried then and there. He inwardly chastised himself for such weakness, when he remembered more of Hoshiko's words.

"_Ne, ne, Hoshi-sensei!" Naruto called._

_The white-haired man turned to face Naruto and smiled before saying, "Yeah, what is it, Naruto?"_

"_Some guys," the blond began. "When these guys were trying to fight me yesterday…"_

"_You won, right?" the man didn't phrase it as a question, but it was his way of saying, "Are you alright?"_

"_Yeah." Naruto grinned proudly and received a responding one before continuing, "And they told me that… we aren't s'posed to display emotions. 'S that true, Hoshi-sensei?"_

"_Well," the turquoise/sherry-coloured eyed man said and pretended to ponder. "Partly."_

"…_Don't be mysterious, Hoshi-sensei. You aren't flirting with girls—answer me! I don't like mysterious people!" Naruto huffed._

"_Haha, I'm sorry." The man laughed and grinned. "Well, while it is true that shinobi aren't supposed to display emotions as we are considered 'tools,' we cannot help it. We're all human and as such have tendencies to exhibit emotion once in a while. It's only human, so if you ever get upset or anything, you can cry if you want. Just come to me, alright?" the man beamed._

_Naruto stared up at him in awe. "Hoshi-sensei…"_

"'_Cause if I'm with a girl then, she'll think you're cute and want me more."_

"_Hoshiko-onna! You're such a bastard!"_

"_O—oi, don't call me that, ochibi!"_

"_Who're you callin' ochibi, bakayaro?"_

With excruciating slowness, Naruto relaxed into Kakashi's hold if only slightly. He closed his eyes and rested his head on the man's chest. If the Jounin was surprised, he didn't show it. He just remained motionless and let Naruto lean against him.

Suddenly feeling exhaustion overwhelm him, Naruto slumped slightly. _I… think I can trust Hatake… if only a little… you don't mind do you, Hoshi-sensei…?_ The boy thought drowsily. It may have been because of his tiredness—and he'd argue that it definitely _was_ only because of that later—but before he slipped into the abyss of unconsciousness, he whispered oh-so-softly, "Thank you… Kakashi…"

Kakashi started slightly and pulled away a bit to stare down at his now-sleeping students – uh, the ANBU's face.

Slowly, he smiled. "There's no need to thank me."

**O—o—O—o—O**

"Don't read too much into this, Hatake."

"What happened to 'Kakashi'?"

A kunai flew at Kakashi's head but he dodged it.

"I'd stab you," said Naruto huffily. "But then I wouldn't be able to sleep on the way home."

"Glad to be of service," the Jounin said cheerily. He expected Naruto to shout something like, _"I'm not some kind of girl, bastard!"_ but surprisingly, the kid didn't. He shrugged it off dismissively.

Naruto's team snickered in the background but halted and paled when the blond shot them a glare that would make even Uchiha's freeze. "You're having _quadruple_ the amount of training when he arrive home," he threatened with a menacing aura.

"Ehhh?" Genma groaned along with Anko.

"Even when Taichou's being given a piggy-back ride and actually _looks_ like a twelve-year-old… he's still scary," Raidou whispered, frightened. Hayate coughed in agreement with a small nod.

"Quiet," ordered Kakashi.

Naruto's team looked up and blinked, confused.

"Huh? Why?" Anko asked, frowning at the Jounin's order.

"He's asleep."

The ANBU team stared at Kakashi with expressions akin to either horror (Anko and Genma) or contentment (Raidou and Hayate).

_How sweet…_ Raidou thought, beaming.

"Aww, Raidou, you don't have to be _that_ happy to see Genma," Anko teased with her characteristic smirk.

"Ehh? Sh—shut up, Anko!"

"Ssh, Raidou – you don't want to wake Taichou up, do ya?"

"G—Genma…!"

"Gah! Okay, I'm sorry! Quit stranglin' me, damn it!"

"Don't wake Taichou."

**O—o—O—o—O**

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and resisted a yawn. He looked around only to discover that they had arrived back at Konoha. _I slept for that long? Damn it, how could I have? I never sleep for more than a couple of hours_, the blond thought with slight irritation. _I'm losing my touch. I need to train more_. He realised that he was grasping Kakashi's shoulders and his head was still resting on his shoulder.

"Could you let me down?" the ANBU Black Ops captain requested moodily. Hey, he was cantankerous when he woke up, alright?

The Jounin raised a brow. "Someone's grumpy," he commented dully.

Naruto twitched. "Let. Me. Down," he ordered.

"Sure." Kakashi dropped him but, surprisingly nimble with good instincts, Naruto landed on his feet easily. He shouldn't have expected any less – the kid _was_ an ANBU, after all. It was just difficult to believe that _Uzumaki Naruto_, the number one knuckleheaded ninja in Konohagakure (or presumably, at least) was just so skilled.

"I'm going to deliver this report to Jii-chan"—Kakashi smiled. At least Naruto's rudeness was real, then. Although… he wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing, actually…—"so you guys are free to go. Training starts are three in the morning sharp tomorrow."

"Three am?" the team exclaimed and Naruto smirked evilly.

"I decided to let you sleep in," he said innocently, but his smirk betrayed his innocent act.

"Sleep _in_? Usually training's at four or _five_, not _three_—"

"Is it going to be a problem?" the blond asked with a sweet smile which somehow made him more menacing.

"…N—no, Taichou!" the team shouted in unison, gulping and paling.

Naruto beamed. "Wonderful. I'll meet you at Gai and Lee's Taijutsu gym. We'll be training there."

"But…" Raidou frowned. "Taichou, Rock Lee is… one of the Genin; he can't know of your status…"

"He doesn't need to," said Naruto. "He's a great guy. He won't ask questions – he'll be too hyped for training anyway." He smiled a small smile, but it was a true one, even if it had some sadness lingering beneath it. Kakashi felt his heart clench but he didn't show it. "Anyway, I'm delivering the report so I'll see you later." Naruto saluted. "Dismissed!"

His team bowed and shunshined away, leaving Kakashi and Naruto alone. _Again_.

_If I were immature, I'd be reciting all the swear words I know right about now. As it happens, I'm not_, the blond thought in aggravation. _Hoshiko-sensei used to leave me in awkward situations too. He probably planned all this, the sneaky bastard…_

"If you want some company," Kakashi drawled. He stuck his hands in his pockets and turned to look lazily at the blond, who stared back stoically. "I'll join you."

Naruto cocked a brow. "If you want," he replied, not wanting to initiate any kind of relationship with _anyone_, whether it was friendship or just comradely, he was slightly fearful of the prospect.

He began walking to the Hokage's tower silently with his head held high despite the whispers of the villager's as he walked past.

Kakashi stared at Naruto, who didn't seem to be affected by the people's rage or prejudice. He frowned slightly. No child should be _used_ to others abhorring them so. However, Naruto probably _had_ seen more than most other kids…

"What are you staring at?" Naruto muttered questioningly, fixing Kakashi with a small confused frown, and the Jounin smiled in response. Even though he wasn't displaying much emotion, Naruto was obviously making at least a little effort to open up more.

"Nothing. Nothing at all," the silver-haired man replied indolently. "Just a short kid."

The blond twitched in aggravation. _'Short'? 'Kid'? How dare he?_ "I'll have you know I am five feet tall. And I'm most definitely _not_ a kid. I'm twelve."

Kakashi raised a brow. "Five foot _short_, more like. And twelve? Pathetic."

"You were my age once," Naruto argued.

"And I was five foot _four_."

"Big deal. You were only four inches taller. That's nothing. Uchiha's five foot two, so make fun of him."

"He's taller than you, isn't he? Come to think of it, Sakura is as well. Hmm… you're very small, you know? I bet it's because you don't get enough nutritious food."

Naruto scowled at him. "I don't like vegetables," he deadpanned.

"That's too bad. You have to eat them. You don't want to be unhealthy and _short_ for the rest of your life, do you?" the Jounin taunted.

The blond silenced suddenly. _The rest of my life, huh? Just how long will that be? Oh well. No use dwelling on the inevitable outcome that is death. Ne, Hoshiko-sensei?_ "Mm…" he murmured in response, deep in thought.

Kakashi turned to him with his usual laid-back expression, but scrutinised Naruto silently. _He's still so young, and yet…_ He paused and shook his head. _It's better not to think of. He's so much like Obito and yet… he's also a lot like…_ Kakashi halted his thoughts abruptly and his eyes dimmed and became more serious. _No. Naruto's nothing like _him_. I shouldn't be thinking of this, anyway. Naruto's smarter than he looks; he'll know I'm thinking something like this…_

"Hatake, we're here," a voice said, and the Jounin turned to Naruto only to see him already near the top of the stairs.

"Ah, I'm coming," the silver-haired man replied in a bored tone, following at a slower pace. When he'd caught up with Naruto, he noticed that the boy's face was impassive as ever, but his eyes were calculating. He was thinking about something. _When is he not?_ His mind supplied rhetorically.

"Why is _he_ here?" a haughty voice questioned disapprovingly.

"Boss!" another voice said, more ecstatic.

Naruto blinked before smiling slightly. "Konohamaru," he acknowledged, patting the kid's head.

Konohamaru pouted. "Quit it," he ordered.

Naruto chuckled and ruffled Konohamaru's hair again just to irritate him. He then looked up and bowed respectfully. "Ebisu-san," he greeted.

"Humph," the man huffed and adjusted his glasses before folding his arms and turning to walk away. "Konohamaru, come now. Get away from that bad influence! We have training to complete."

The brunet boy looked torn. He scowled at his teacher and looked at Naruto hopefully.

The blond smiled. "Go on, Konohamaru," he urged. "You need your training if you want to beat me to the position of Hokage."

Konohamaru faltered before grinning in response. "Right!" he said. "See ya, boss!" he shouted as he ran to catch up to his teacher.

Kakashi smiled approvingly. "You'd be a good brother. Or teacher," he voiced his thoughts.

"Hmm… no," the blond said softly. "I wouldn't be there enough."

The Jounin blinked before frowning. "You get missions that often?"

"Not really," Naruto replied. "I get them every other day or every other night, since I have the 'Uchiha Mission' now."

Kakashi made an understanding noise but inwardly vowed to talk to the Sandaime about it; he didn't want Naruto going on so many missions, ANBU or not.

Naruto didn't knock and just kicked the door open. "Jii-chan! I got your report."

"Naruto," Sarutobi acknowledged. "How nice to see you."

"Uh-huh," the blond replied calmly. He shoved the report into the man's grasp. "Have fun trying to decipher my writing, Jii-chan."

"Oh, don't worry," the old man said with a cheeky grin. "I have special people for that now. They're trained to make sense of _any_thing – even _you're_ writing."

Naruto scowled, but it turned out as more of a pout. "Oh really," he said dryly. "Well. Good for you."

"Don't sulk, Naru-chan."

The blond flushed and hissed like a wet cat. "Don't call me that, Jii-chan!"

"Haha! I got a raise out of Little Mister Impassive! I deserve a prize."

"I'll give you one." Naruto put his hands together. "Orioke no jutsu!" he said, and in a puff of wispy smoke, a naked girl stood in his place, striking a very sultry pose. "Ooh, is it hot in here, or is it just me?"

Kakashi discreetly changed his now-red mask whilst everyone else wasn't so tactful and all blushed bright red and let blood pour out of their noses.

Naruto transformed back into himself with a satisfied smirk. "You're all perverted," he deadpanned and turned to leave.

"U-zu-ma-kiii!"

"Later!"

**O—o—O—o—O**

"Why are you walking with me?" Naruto questioned; blunt and straight to the point. He folded his arms behind his head and glowered up at Kakashi.

"Because I feel like it. Besides," he said, "The bookstore's up this way. I want to see if the new volume of Icha Icha Paradise is out yet."

The blond remained silent for a moment. _So, that's his only reason, huh? _Instead of voicing his thoughts, he just said, "Oh."

Kakashi heard his student's – damn it, the ANBU's – completely impassive tone, but he noticed a slight hurting in his voice. Smiling, quite proud that the kid was upset by his answer – not in a masochistic way, just pleased that the boy showed his emotions and he seemed to want Kakashi's company – and he said, "But… I'd like it if we hung out sometime."

Naruto looked up at him hastily, astounded. His greyish-sapphire eyes brightened slightly, Kakashi noticed. _His eyes are like gems…_ "You… mean it…?" the blond asked slowly, not trusting the Jounin yet. The grey-haired shinobi felt a pang of disenchantment when he realised that, be he then recalled that the kid probably didn't trust _anyone_.

"Of course," the Jounin said jovially, smiling amiably.

Blue eyes stared into his visible onyx one for another long moment, deliberating inwardly if to trust his words or not.

"Do you… wanna go for ramen, then?" the boy proposed, sounding almost shy and afraid.

Kakashi felt elated that Naruto _wanted_ to be with him for a while but then remembered that he had a mission later on. He cursed inwardly and turned to the blond, looking torn. "I can't today…" he said gently.

Naruto tore his gaze away from Kakashi's now, all trust evaporating. "Alright. It's fine," he said stoically.

"But," the Jounin said hastily, not wanting the kid to lose _all_ faith in him. "There's a matsuri(1) later on in the week. We could go after training."

"…Paedophile."

Kakashi blanched and then paled. "No!" he shouted, frantic. "I don't go for _kids_! And I'm _straight_!" he assured hastily. He forced himself to calm down when he saw the blond was unimpressed by his display. He cleared his throat and said, "I meant… it'd be like a father/son bonding sort of thing… if you want."

The blond boy's eyes widened again, and he looked like the picture of innocence. He looked so young and small at that point – so frail and unable to deal with the world of death and loss that was a shinobi's life. But Kakashi knew that he wasn't weak.

"Father and… son…?" Naruto whispered slowly, as if saying the words for the first time. Very slowly, he smiled with unadulterated contentment at Kakashi. It was a smile just for _him_, and the Jounin somehow felt honoured. "I'd like that."

Entranced by the pure smile of radiance, Kakashi's reply was somewhat delayed. "Right. I'll see you Saturday afternoon. I'll meet you at the training grounds, alright? It starts at six, so shall we meet at quarter to?"

"Sure," the blond replied, still smiling. He turned to leave and began walking away before pausing. "Oh, and Hatake," he called back, looking over his shoulder.

"Yeah?" the Jounin replied in his usual bored tone.

"You aren't as old as I said before." Naruto smiled again. "You're like an older brother or something. Oyasuminasai(2), Hatake."

And then he was gone.

**Naruto—Naruto—Naruto—Naruto—Naruto**

_**NARUTO**_** belongs to Kishimoto Masashi, not me. If it belonged to me, you'd know. Trust me.**

**Sorry this chapter's so short. I just felt like cuttin' off there, plus I'm a lazy ass. It runs in the family. It's a faulty gene or something. :P Also, I'm **_**so sorry**_** for the long-awaited update! I have excuses but they aren't good enough. You can throw tomatoes at me if you want. …Or pocky. I like pocky. :)**

**Um, what pairings would you like in this? 'Cause I don't know what to do. :/ The plot line's gonna get a lot different soon and the Itachi/Sasuke battle saga will be different. **_**Really**_** different. And there's gonna be some time-travel later. Just a warning.**

**I don't know what pairings I'm going to do, but my friend suggested I write down possible outcomes, so here goes:**

—**KakaNaru (it won't be paedophilia 'cause if I do choose this one, it'll be a **_**lot**_** later).**

—**ItaNaru.**

—**SasuNaru (Possibly, but I'm not really too sure… I don't think I want 'em to be together in this story).**

—**NaruSaku (I just like NaruSaku, and… this story has a good plotline for NaruSaku, I guess).**

**That's pretty much it, plus I'm gonna include KibaHina, ShikaTema, ChouIno (slight SaiIno, but not much 'cause… well I can't say, 'cause it'll spoil later chapters), JiraTsu, and canon pairings.**

**Anyway, reviews are appreciated but not required. Thanks for reading!**

'**Matsuri' means 'Festival.'**

'**Oyasumnasai' means 'Goodnight.'**


	11. Preparations

Sakura was overjoyed as she skipped jovially through the early-morning crowds of Konohagakure no Sato, offering amiable smiles to many villagers who returned them politely.

The pink-haired girl clamped a fisted hand over head chest and giggled happily. _I can't believe I saw Sasuke here! He's probably going to go training, so I'll just follow and watch for a while and when he gets tired I can take him home!_ She plotted cheerfully, beaming at her idea.

Sasuke, however, was not so pleased. He had only realised that his team-mate was following him once he had arrived at the training grounds. _I mustn't get careless. No… no, I wasn't. I just let my guard down momentarily. It won't happen again_, he vowed with a glare at nothing in particular as he reached the training grounds. He halted, though, upon reaching them, causing the rosette behind him to crash into him. _So much for agility…_ He thought vaguely, but didn't even acknowledge her with a glare.

"Sasuke-kun?" the girl asked curiously, blinking her naïve but intelligent jade-green eyes at him. If it were Ino, it would be intentional flirting, but Sakura had a habit of blinking innocently up at people. "Is something the matter?" the kunoichi asked.

Upon receiving no reply, she let her gaze fall to where Sasuke's was. She blinked in confusion when she saw Naruto with four other people.

"Why is Naruto here? And he's with those guys… What rank are they anyway?" Sakura asked, but her questions went unanswered.

Naruto turned to them and nodded in acknowledgment as if he had known they were there all along.

_He probably did_, thought Sakura with a frown of befuddlement but it soon turned into a cordial smile. _Somehow he's… he seems mature or… something…_

The blond turned and said something to the four adults who nodded, saluted, and disappeared.

"Hey, guys," Naruto then said blankly but with a small affable smile.

Sakura found herself smiling back. "Hi, Naruto," she said. "Why were you with those guys?" she asked with no restraint.

"They were just making sure the Jinchūriki of the Kyuubi's in check. Don't worry," he said. "It's all clear."

Sakura stared with mild horror at the blond. How could he speak so freely about such sombre matters?

Sasuke seemed rather perturbed by the blond as well. Then again, he was lately. Instead of the hyperactive and unstable blond he once knew, this… empty shell of him was standing in his place.

"Naruto," the female of the group said with firmness after regaining her composure. "You shouldn't speak of such things! The Hokage forbid it," she admonished.

The blond boy's eyes became greyer before he closed him and gave her his trademark fox-like smile. "Even the one who's holding the Bijū? That hardly seems fair." He then shrugged dismissively. "You want to train?"

"I am here to train," Sasuke muttered broodingly, meeting Naruto's oddly-coloured grey eyes and trying not to flinch at the hardness of them. He barely restrained himself from doing so.

"I was just…" Sakura trailed off, slightly embarrassed. _I came to watch Sasuke train for my own benefit while these two have the intention of getting stronger… I'll be such a burden if I don't try harder…_

"You can watch Sasuke train to pick up on agility and reflexes," Naruto offered, gaining her attention. She stared at him, surprised.

"Like research…?" she enquired as if asking a teacher.

"Yes." Naruto nodded. "As well as being on the offence, shinobi must also have people to heal them. Medics, I mean. When shinobi are injured, there are usually medics that heal them, so they're very useful. Unfortunately, there aren't many on teams anymore – only in hospitals. It'd be helpful to have more. They'd be very valuable," he said.

Sakura looked intrigued. "They're useful?"

"Very much so," Naruto said with a small smile. He bit his thumb and made a blood seal to summon a scroll, which he handed to Sakura. "This scroll is about the basics of medical jutsu. When you've read that, you can ask any Chūnin or someone working in the hospital for a more detailed and difficult one."

The kunoichi stared at him in astonishment and gratefulness. "Naru…to…" she said before beaming. "Thank you."

The Uzumaki just nodded, dismissing the gratitude. "Sasuke, would you like me to train with you?" he offered.

Sasuke glared menacingly at him but upon realising that the blond was unaffected and didn't retreat, he huffed and nodded. "Fine," he said. "But don't be a hindrance or I won't train with you again," he threatened.

_Oh, how terrible. May I remind you that all of this trouble is for _you_?_ Naruto thought dryly. "Sure," he said instead.

Both boys took their stances on the opposite sides of the training grounds. Sakura sat at the sidelines, slightly perturbed by who she should cheer on. _I really like Sasuke-kun, but… Naruto works so hard and he's just…_

Naruto, as if empathetically interconnected with Sakura, glanced at her with now metallic-blue eyes that were almost like his normal sapphire ones, and smiled reassuringly. The girl couldn't prevent her lips from twitching back on instinct. It was so difficult not to like Naruto once you knew him.

"Dobe," snarled the Uchiha, breaking the moment of friendship. Both of his team-mate's turned back to him, one stoic and one slightly shocked. "Are we going to fight or are you scared?" He smirked arrogantly at the blond, who appeared unimpressed at the Uchiha's display.

Usually, Sakura would have been squealing over Sasuke's amazing good-looks but she found herself slightly irritated with his superciliousness. _Gah! What's wrong with me? Sasuke-kun's the best! Why am I doubting him?_

Sakura hastily shook her head, dismissing the notion in her head and instead turned to watch the training spar.

"Ladies first, Dobe," Sasuke muttered with a small smirk, steely eyes sparkling with mirth at his insult.

"After you then, Bakayaro," the blond retorted calmly with a fake smile. _Uchiha's aggravate me endlessly. Itachi used to be bearable but after he got his mission… I shouldn't be thinking about this. I have to concentrate. I'll minimise my chakra and only use Taijutsu against Sasuke today_, he mused to himself. He didn't pity Sasuke's loss of family, and nor did he have compassion for it – he just understood and accepted it, which was what he wanted from the people around him.

Sasuke scowled at Naruto before making various hand-signs, mumbling his Katon jutsu, bringing his hands to his mouth and blowing fire at Naruto. He was surprised that his fire created an explosion that made him crash into a tree. He looked into the area where Naruto was only to fee remnants of an explosion tag, and a dummy with a sign reading 'Nice try, Bakayaro,' on it – a replacement jutsu.

Cursing, Sasuke surveyed the area but couldn't trace Naruto's chakra signature. He increased his guard and kept his eyes on the trees and was unprepared when he was yanked underground. He cursed and glared upwards when Naruto toward above him with a blank expression on his face.

"Work on observation, don't let anything get to your head – be it arrogance or not, don't underestimate your opponent and don't be predictable." Naruto's impassive tone and face then dissolved and he offered Sasuke a hand, which the Uchiha glared at.

"Just let me out," the raven-haired boy snarled darkly, agitated.

"You did good Sasuke," the blond said, his amiable smile evaporating because of Sasuke's behaviour. "But your attitude sucks." He then stood, stuffed his hands in his pockets and began to walk away.

Sakura looked torn briefly before turning and running to Sasuke, attempting to help the boy.

"Naruto, where are you going? You should help Sasuke – you got him in this position!" Sakura scolded.

Naruto didn't hesitate. He continued walking but called back, "I did get him into that position but it was a correlation between that and his own choices. I gave him advice, I offered him comradely companionship, and he didn't want it." Icy eyes flew towards them and both the Genin froze as the sparkling icy-silver orbs. "It was his own choice."

And then he vanished.

O—o—O—o—O

Light footsteps outside his gym were what alerted Gai to knowing that someone was there. He didn't recognise the chakra signature because he couldn't sense it. _It must be only one person! The person who is stronger than even my rival, Kakashi!_ He thought dramatically. Striking a theatrical pose, Gai shouted out, "I know you are there, Masked Fox, so don't bother hiding and face me like a man!"

Silence cascaded heavily around him before a hand clamped on his shoulder and shoved him into a wall with a kunai at his neck. "Hello, Gai-san," a familiar voice said.

Gai smiled proudly. "Naruto, you never fail to make dramatic entrances. I approve!"

Naruto chucked and removed the kunai from Gai's neck and flipped it back into its holster as he moved away and folded his arms.

"Wanna train with me, Gai-san?" the blond asked with a small smile as he began unzipping his jacket.

"Yes, it would be a great match! Let us spar!" the overzealous man declared with a thumbs-up as Naruto discarded his jacket into a random corner and got into a fighting stance.

"Alright," said the blond. "Let's fight. Round one."

Gai instantly let out a battle cry and launched forward into a series of assaults. For any other ninja, that would be an idiotic thing to do, but for Gai it was a good strategy – he was a master of Taijutsu, after all. As such, Naruto found it a bit of a challenge to block the attacks. _Not that that's bad, though_, he mused. _I like a challenge_.

Seeing an opening and Gai himself probably didn't realise he had, Naruto ducked an oncoming punch and roundhouse kicked at Gai's feet. Predicting this from their last sparring seminar, the Taijutsu master evaded the attack and grabbed Naruto's ankle. He tossed the young ANBU into the air but was surprised when the blond grabbed his shoulders, flipped over him and kicked him in the back, sending Gai into the opposite wall.

When the smoke had cleared from the impact, Gai smirked. "I had not expected you to do that," he admitted. "I thought you would launch into the air and summon clones."

Naruto smirked back in return and produced a shuriken from his holster that glinted in the sunlight, momentarily blinding Gai. "I am known at the number one unpredictable, knuckleheaded ninja," the blond stated with satisfaction before his simpering face was lost to a poker face and he launched his sharp metal object at the Green Beast, who had been anticipating the attack and dodged it.

What he hadn't anticipated, however, was when the shuriken exploded into a puff of smoke and a clone appeared and grabbed him in a stranglehold with a kunai to his throat.

"One nil to me," said Naruto, letting his clone disappear into a burst of smoke. "How about best six out of ten?"

"Let's go! Round two!"

O—o—O—o—O

Yawning, Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets as he walked around town. He was just wondering aimlessly for a while; he liked taking walks sometimes. It cleared his head.

As he walked, he recalled what Kakashi had told him about the up-coming matsuri. He paused in his strides and looked up at the moon, contemplating. _Aren't people expected to wear kimonos to these events?_ He wondered briefly, frowning and thinking back the scrolls that he had read when he was younger. He had never been to a matsuri; the villagers didn't take too kindly to a demon having fun at their events after the accursed thing had destroyed their Yondaime.

Shaking off his melancholy thoughts, Naruto continued walking as he mused the concept of wearing a kimono to the matsuri.

He didn't tense when someone crashed into them, and nor did he or the other person apologise. They had disappeared into the swarming crowd in less than a second and during that time, Naruto moved the note the man had inconspicuously put in his hand.

'_Be prepared._'

That was all the note read, but Naruto recognised it completely. He knew who it was from, and he knew what it referred to. Now he had to pass the message onto Sarutobi. But just to ward off any unwanted visitors, he decided to visit Iruka's house first to lose them. Besides, he had to get the Chūnin's advice on attire for the matsuri.

O—o—O—o—O

Jarred out of his peaceful sleep by knocking at his door, Iruka was less than pleased. Despite that, he got up without fuss and answered his door politely.

"'Ruka-sensei," the blond greeted with a beam. He really did love his old sensei.

"Naruto," the brunet man replied before rubbing his forehead with a hand that wasn't holding the door open. "Why, may I ask, are you here this early?"

"I was taking a walk. And it's not early," the blond said with some amusement as he smirked as the brown-haired man and flopped onto his couch without an invitation. "It's already quarter to twelve."

Iruka's eyes widened and he paled dramatically before holding his head. "Oh _no_! I'm late! What could the students be _doing_? And—and with _Konohamaru_ there! I'm _doomed_! I—I'll be—"

Naruto, who had been enjoying seeing his previous teacher freaking out, decided to step in. "It's Saturday today," he supplied, appearing nonchalant but was really actually entertained. "It's your day off."

The brown-haired man halted and lowered his hands from ripping out his hair to turn to Naruto, blushing in embarrassment. "You knew that from the beginning, didn't you?" he accused with a glare.

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe."

"Naruto…" Iruka began in a threatening tone and his hands twitched.

The blond laughed. "Hold it, 'Ruka-sensei. If I hadn't told you, you would have gone in and been even more embarrassed and have wasted your time."

Reluctantly, the Chūnin nodded but gave Naruto a look that said, 'Just because you're right doesn't mean I won't throttle you,' and Naruto returned a too-innocent look that read, 'Why, I have absolutely _no_ idea what you mean, Sensei.'

After the telepathic staring contest, Iruka sighed and sat next to Naruto and folded his arms. "So, why are you here?"

"Can't I visit my old sensei?" the blond asked innocently.

"You don't do anything without a reason." Iruka scowled.

"You know me so well, 'Ruka-sensei," Naruto said dramatically but soon sobered and stared blankly at Iruka. "The matsuri is tomorrow. I don't know what I'm meant to wear." He levelled Iruka with a serious yet confused look.

Iruka blinked before beaming. "Okay, I'll help you, Naruto," he said. He liked being fatherly.

_Or motherly…_ Thought Naruto vaguely. He remained silent and stared at Iruka blankly.

The Chūnin twitched. "Aren't you going to say 'thank you'?" he enquired with forced calmness.

Naruto blinked slowly. "Thank you," he murmured.

Iruka face-palmed before taking a deep breath and yanking on his Chūnin vest. "Alright, let's go then. By the way, who are you going with? Sakura and Sasuke?"

The blond made a face. "…No," he muttered.

The brown-haired man blinked. "Oh, right," he said, recalling when Naruto had told him about being an ANBU. He blushed, also remembering that he had fainted. "Then, your ANBU team?"

"No."

"Who then?" Iruka demanded, placing his hands on his hips. "I won't let you go with strangers, Naruto! It's not safe."

Naruto regarded him blankly. _I'm an ANBU Black Ops captain, and he still worries about my safety…?_ He found himself smiling despite his thoughts. It was nice to know that someone cared for him, but he'd never admit it out loud.

"Hatake," he said as he departed from the house, yanking the now-frozen Chūnin with him.

"Hatake Kakashi?" Iruka asked in disbelief.

"Yes." Naruto prepared him for the lecture.

"Are you sure that's wise, Naruto? The man's a pervert! He—he reads those _Icha Icha_ books!" the brunet man squawked, blushing at the mere mention of the forbidden books.

"Chill out, 'Ruka-sensei," said the blond tranquilly. "It's nothing to worry about. It's a… father/son sort of thing, he said."

Iruka paused and stared at Naruto for a moment, looking betrayed. Catching the look, the blond chuckled.

"You're like my big brother, 'Ruka-sensei. Don't worry; no one can take your place," he assured the brunet, only to be captured in a hug. Awkwardly, he wrapped an arm around Iruka's shoulders. "Uh, 'Ruka-sensei… we're in public. Haven't I told you about the no-hugging policy?"

"Once you said it doesn't apply to me." The brown-haired man beamed but let Naruto go.

"Darn my kindness…" Naruto murmured.

"Kindness?" Iruka repeated incredulously, thinking back to all of the pranks the blond had played on him in the past. He shuddered at the memories.

"I'm glad you agree," said Naruto, grabbing Iruka's arm to drag him along. "So, where to first?"

"I know a good clothing store that specialises in kimonos. The people who work there are very nice, too," Iruka said jovially.

"You're so friendly with people, Iruka-sensei," the bond said with a smirk. "You're like such a housewife."

Exceedingly flustered, Iruka sputtered and flailed. "I—I am not!" he squeaked, blushing crimson.

"Whatever you say, 'Kaa-san."

"Na—Naruto!"

O—o—O—o—O

Naruto knew he should have restrained himself from being rude to Iruka. The man was pure _evil_ when provoked – especially when one questioned his gender.

"Sensei…" the blond muttered, trying hard not to whine. "Why do we have to go to _every_ clothes store and try on _all_ of the clothes?" he asked, forcing a polite tone.

Iruka beamed innocently at him. "We have to try all of them to make sure we get the best one for you," he stated.

The blond closed his eyes and sighed, trying to calm himself down. "Right, sensei. But I don't think Hatake is going to care about what I wear."

"Hmm…" Iruka hummed vaguely, not answering the blond.

Naruto sighed despondently. _Hoshiko-sensei hated shopping as much as I do… but he took me every couple of weeks, even if we didn't buy anything…_ This brought a small smile to the blond boy's lips before he erased it completely and followed Iruka to another store.

"Ah!" the brunet man suddenly exclaimed, effectively capturing Naruto's attention. "Here, Naruto, try this one," he said, thrusting a huge orange lump into Naruto's arms. "And this one, too." He pushed a black one into the blond boy's arms this time. When Naruto just stared at him blankly, he pushed him into a changing room. "Go on! What are you waiting for?"

Casting one final glare at the Chūnin, Naruto entered the changing room and shut the door behind him. He hesitated before he unzipped his orange pullover and black t-shirt. His torso was completely covered in bandages to disguise everything, and he left them on. He removed his pants but left his boxers on before picking up the orange kimono and staring blankly at it before pulling it on.

"Are you alright in there, Naruto?" Iruka questioned from beyond the door.

"I'm fine," the blond replied calmly.

"Do you need any help tying the obi or anything?" the brunet man offered.

"No, I've got it covered." Naruto had done this countless times before; missions with Hoshiko-sensei hadn't all been just retrieving documents and fighting – they also involved posing as maiko or other… unmanly things.

Naruto frowned slightly when he realised that Hoshiko had always tied the obi. He sighed irritably.

As if telepathic, Iruka chose that moment to ask, "Are you sure you don't need help tying the obi, Naruto?"

"Uh, I suppose I would appreciate some assistance with it…" the blond replied, opening the door.

The brunet beamed at him and helped him tie the wretched thing.

"How do you know how to tie obis?" Naruto enquired, letting the man complete his ministrations by lifting his arms.

"My mother taught me before she died," Iruka said without any sadness in his tone. "She told me that it was very useful to learn even the little things, because not many people bother to learn them… so you can help those people, if only a little." He smiled.

Naruto stared at the brunet significantly for a moment.

"Don't apologise, Naruto," Iruka said softly as he finished tying the obi.

"I wasn't going to," Naruto said truthfully. He wouldn't _say_ it, but he really did feel bad for Iruka. He didn't pity him, he just understood – like he did for Sasuke. Although with Iruka, the blond felt more compassion because he wasn't such a jerk. "I was going to say you really _are_ like a woman."

Iruka's face flushed crimson. "Na—Naruto! If you were still in the academy, I'd assign you a six-foot essay!"

O—o—O—o—O

After all of the torturous shopping, they had decided to purchase three kimonos. Naruto found it incomprehensible why they bought _three_ if he was only going to use _one_, but Iruka had then given him a lecture about always being prepared and have back-ups. He didn't ask again.

After Iruka had offered to treat Naruto for ramen (or being forced to, depending on which side you're looking at), both departed for home.

Naruto stared blankly at his apartment and sighed in aggravation. "More graffiti?" he muttered in a bored tone. "You would think people would be more creative. And a smashed window. How typical," he grunted and rolled his eyes. Shrugging dismissively, Naruto entered the ran-down apartments and ascended the stairs until he reached his room, only to find the door unlocked. Unfazed, Naruto opened it and assessed the damage. _Broken furniture, food and clothes strewn across the entire place… I bet it was my landlord. I should really get to work_, he thought tiredly.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu," he said, and a few clones appeared. He nodded to them and they nodded back, understanding telepathically.

They hastily began clearing up, mopping and generally cleaning the place. After about half an hour, the original sighed wearily and leant against the wall, stopping his mopping for a while. His clones glanced at him before continuing with their tasks.

A knock at the door made all of the clone's look up again. The original Naruto waved to them and ordered, "Keep going. I'll just be a moment," before opening the door. "Hatake," he said without surprise, having recognised the chakra signature immediately.

"Maa, maa, Naruto, shouldn't you be calling me something more respectful?" the Jounin enquired, flipping his gaudy orange book shut.

_I'm of a higher rank than you_, the blond thought, but just scowled. "Only once you've earned my respect, _Hatake_," he said seriously.

Kakashi's one visible eye crinkled up into a 'u', showing his amusement, but he flatered slightly when a crash sounded from inside.

Naruto grunted and murmured something that sounded remarkably like, "I may have matured but my clones are still acting like twelve-year-olds…"

"That's because you _are_ twelve. You _should_ act like a kid sometimes, Naruto. Just because you're an ANBU captain doesn't dismiss the fact of your age," Kakashi said, staring seriously at the blond.

"You don't seem to stick to your age," Naruto argued, raising a brow and folding his arms.

Kakashi chuckled. "That's because it's no fun."

Rolling his eyes, Naruto opened the door more. "Come in," he mumbled before disappearing into the kitchen. His clones diminished in various puffs of smoke as he picked up the shards of glass.

"You should be careful. You could cut yourself," Kakashi said from the doorway just as Naruto sliced one of his fingers. "I hate to say I told you so, but…"

"Of course I cut myself with you surprising me like that," Naruto muttered dubiously, glaring. He shook his head and stood, warily tiptoeing around the glass before turning on the tap and rinsing his cut.

"Does it hurt?" the Jounin enquired, suddenly behind him.

"Not really. I've had worse," Naruto replied dismissively. He used his free hand to rub his eyes.

"You're tired?" the silver-haired man asked.

"A little," the ANBU murmured. He removed his finger from under the water and opened his medical cupboard only to find that trashed, too. "Damn…" he sighed.

"What happened here, anyway? Did you have a wild party?" Kakashi asked, raising his visible brow.

"Villagers," Naruto answered simply, thinking it was too troublesome to lie anyway. _Shikamaru's rubbed off on me…_ He thought with mild amusement. He didn't notice that the Jounin looked furious.

"They do this often?" Kakashi asked calmly, but his question had an underlying tone of malice in it.

Naruto just shrugged but noticed the tone in Kakashi's voice. "Don't bother with them," he said.

The Jounin frowned. "Naruto, you may be an ANBU, but you're still twelve. If people are doing these kind of things to you, you should tell someone or do something about it," he advised, slightly surprised that the blond hadn't interrupted him before reminding himself that Naruto wasn't who he thought he was.

"I appreciate your concern, Hatake-san," Naruto said with a slight smile, trying to be polite for once as the man seemed to want to stick up for him. "But it would only make it worse. I don't want people to fear me – I want to earn their respect." He levelled Kakashi with a serious stare.

The silver-haired man stared intently at his 'student' for a moment before sighing and raising a hand to ruffle the blond boy's hair before hesitating and pulling his hand away, not noticing the slight disappointment in the blue eyes. "You've earned much more than respect, Naruto. You deserve more."

_You wouldn't say that if you knew what I've done…_

Naruto just shrugged dismissively again and glanced down at his finger, seeing it was now healed. _Kyuubi seems to be healing as usual. Why did my stomach hurt so much before anyway…?_ Frowning, he shook his head. _It's not worth contemplating_.

As he was so fixated on his thoughts, he couldn't prevent a yawn from escaping his mouth. Kakashi turned and glanced at him and Naruto just coughed awkwardly.

"Just a little tired, eh?" the Jounin enquired dubiously, raising his visible brow.

"Shut up," Naruto murmured drowsily.

Chuckling, Kakashi slid his arms behind the blond boy's legs and under his shoulders and lifted him up.

"What are you doing?" Naruto muttered doubtfully, glaring cautiously at the Jounin, stiff in the man's hold.

"I'm carrying you," Kakashi answered simply.

_Oh, I didn't notice_, thought the blond dryly. "Why?" he demanded, not giving into his sleepiness.

"You're tired."

"I've made it to my bed without dying before."

"I doubt you'd make it this time."

"…You call yourself a Jounin, Hatake? You act like a Genin," Naruto commented, now letting his head lull against the Jounin's chest as drowsiness became to overcome him.

"I can be profound when I want to be," Kakashi replied cheerfully. Upon receiving no reply, he glanced down only to find that Naruto had fallen asleep on him. The Jounin chuckled. _He seems to trust me more. This is the third time he's fallen asleep on me_, he thought amusedly.

Gently, he lowered the blond onto his bed and pulled the blankets up to the boy's chin, feeling amused when the kid snuggled deeper into the sheets.

"How cute," he murmured, chuckling again. He turned to depart but hesitated when he heard his first name being said. He turned around.

"Kakashi… I don't mind it if… you rub my head… I like it…" the sleep-induced blond murmured drowsily before completely falling asleep.

Smiling, Kakashi leant down and ruffled the blond boy's hair and tenderly placed a soft kiss on the kid's forehead. "I like it, too," he said. "Oyasuminasai, Naruto…"

**KakaNaru—KakaNaru—KakaNaru**

**Gosangoku: I **_**dis**_**claim Naruto. He belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.**

**Most votes so far have been for KakaNaru, which I think is highly plausible since this fic revolves around those two. Iruka's so awesome – I had to include him more. I wanna pair him with someone but I don't know who. I was thinking of someone but then I was indecisive. Who do you guys think Iruka would be paired best with?**

**The only pairing's I **_**know**_** are gonna happen in these fics are: KibaHina, ShikaTema and ChouIno. Other than that… I have no idea.**

**That's it for pairings. I've mentioned this in the summary but this fic with later have **_**time travel**_**. Back **_**and**_** forward to various time periods. That'll be around… the Sasuke retrieval arc-ish. Naruto will be going to many different times periods and the futuristic ones will contain many different things because, well, it's the **_**future**_**. It'll also have my OC, Gum, who won't be paired with any canon characters. He has pink hair. …I just felt the need to tell you that. :) However, it's still Naruto-centric. Gum is only a support character in the future to help Naruto get grips on the future. Please don't ask about Gum's name. Or hair colour. It pisses him off.**

**Well, that about covers my comments. Reviews aren't necessary but they are appreciated. –**_**Nudge, nudge**_**–**


	12. Missions and Matsuri Part A

"Are you guys all ready?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Ready, Taichou."

"Yes"—cough—"I'm ready."

"Let's just get on with it, damn it!"

Naruto didn't bother to roll his eyes at Anko's aggravated exclamation. "Calm down," he ordered quietly but sternly. "If you aren't calm enough, you'll be sidetracked and won't concentrate. Use your energy for what we're supposed to do, Anko, instead of shouting."

Not too happy with being lectured but not wanting to agitate her Taichou into giving them extra training at Gai's dojo, she grumbled a subservient, "Yes, sir."

"Taichou, there's an opening," Hayate whispered into his intercom microphone as his dark eyes scanned the area.

"All right," Naruto replied firmly, also noticing how one of the guards had let his guard down.

"Shall we move in now?" Genma asked as he chewed on his senbon agitatedly.

"No. Be patient, Genma," the blond reprimanded. "Inspect the guards before you jump into a fray, and be tactical but unpredictable."

"That's a feat only you can accomplish, Taichou," Anko muttered, still sulking about being told off.

"When you spend a lot of time with someone, they tend to rub off on you," Naruto retorted tranquilly as his azure eyes skimmed over their enemies.

"So you're going to be perverted like Kakashi?" Genma asked with a smirk.

The blond gave him an exasperated look before disregarding his statement and appraising their enemies.

There were four guards outside – three men and one woman. The woman was sitting perched upon the roof of the building that they were protecting, which appeared to be some kind of shrine. Naruto didn't like the feeling of her chakra – it was so cold, which was the exact contrast to Kyuubi's burning chakra. Her icy chakra chilled him and he could feel it draining him slightly, for reasons he couldn't fathom. Chakra couldn't suck out other chakra, no matter how rare or amazing it was. Hoshigaki Kisame's sword could do that, but Naruto hadn't ever come across anything that described chakra like that. He decided to do some research upon returning home.

Not letting his mind wonder, he assessed the woman more. She didn't have any relevancy to him; he had never seen her in the bingo books and she definitely didn't work for Orochimaru, and yet she seemed to gave a large amount of her disturbing freezing chakra. As he chakra suggested, she appeared to have a cold exterior. Her eyes were completely black, and they reminded Naruto of Itachi's eyes. Not wanting to have a flood of memories come back to him, he looked away from her eyes before he noticed something. Her eyes weren't wholly black; there were tiny tints of icy-blue in them, scattering randomly but creating an odd star-shaped pattern. He frowned. He had never read about anything like that either.

Nothing else about her was discernable to him, and he moved on to appraising the next person. This man's chakra also drained him, even though it was similar to his own; it was blazing hot and it didn't seem to be very controlled, but flaring around frantically and intensely. The man's eyes had no speciality about them that seemed distinguishable; they were plain deep brown. His hair was bright blond at the bottom that steadily evolved into flaring orange and then scorching crimson. He wasn't wearing a shirt and so a large scar was viewable that went from his left him to his right cheek.

The second man didn't seem to _have_ any chakra and didn't seem like a threat at all; he was only around five foot, or less even – an inch shorter than Naruto, as a matter of fact. However, his eyes were covered by bandages and his hands were bound together by chains. Despite that, he seemed to practicing his Taijutsu and was flipping feasibly from tree to tree without a hitch in spite of the heavy chains that bound him. His face was mostly shadowed by his hood, but from what Naruto could see his skin was an ashen greyish-blue, like a corpse. Regardless of his frail-looking body, his moves told otherwise. His Taijutsu could rival both Lee's and Gai's.

Frowning now, Naruto's sapphire eyes flashed to the last man. He was taller than all of the others, standing at an astonishing height of almost seven feet tall. He was very well toned and looked like a military leader; he appeared stern and commanding. His chakra seemed similar to any regular shinobi's, but Naruto just knew that there was something about him that was dangerous. He wouldn't be there if he wasn't, after all.

"Taichou?" Raidou whispered into the intercom, interrupting Naruto's strategic plots. "What should we do?" he enquired apprehensively, apparently noticing how dangerous they all were.

"Guys," Naruto said firmly, affectively capturing their full attention at how serious he sounded. "This was meant to be a B-ranked mission, but I don't believe that anymore."

"So what?" Anko asked impatiently. "We've handled A-rank tonnes of times before. What's there to worry about?"

"Haven't you been paying attention?" Naruto replied calmly and quietly. "Inspect them all. Those two"—he gestured to the woman and the first man—"have a strange type of chakra. Ethereal, even."

"Could they be Jinchūriki?" Anko asked without thinking. Hayate and Raidou casted worried glances at their captain.

"No," Naruto answered, unperturbed. "It isn't that." He glared contemplatively. "It would be useful if we had someone with Byakugan on this team." Sighing, he shook his head. "We'll have to make do."

Examining his enemies for another moment, he nodded as he made his mind up. "Anko, Raidou," he said.

"Taichou?" the two shinobi addressed answered obediently.

"You two are going to infiltrate the shrine. I can't sense any chakra from in there apart from a few shinobi's, but they're obviously Chūnin or Jounin at most. You can take them feasibly. These four will be the most bothersome, so that's why Hayate, Genma and I will be the distractions. We'll fight them whilst you get inside the shrine and get the scrolls, and then flee _immediately_. Don't stop for us, got it?"

Both Anko and Raidou hesitated, obviously reluctant and unhappy with the idea of leaving their team-mates behind. But for the sake of the mission, they had to. It was a shinobi's life. "Yes, Taichou," they said, nodding.

Naruto nodded back before gesturing to Genma and nodding again. Understanding the silent command, Genma extracted some senbon from a secret compartment in the back of his sandals and launched them at the woman with amazing accuracy.

The girl, untroubled, remained where she was. When the senbon hit her, she dissolved into smoke and reappeared next to the fiery man, appearing as calm as she was a moment ago.

"Shinobi are here, boss," the fiery man called. "What're your orders?" he asked, grinning jovially at the military-liked muscled man.

The man addressed glared at the jubilant boy before unfolding his arms. "You know what to do: Protect the shrine at all costs. Go!"

"Yes, sir!" the hot-heated man replied cheerfully before smiling an almost fox-like grin with his eyes closed and mouth forming a lop-sided smirk. "Come out, guys! Let's play," he hissed with a leer.

The girl remained motionless beside him and stared blankly into the foliage before staring at the spot where Genma was.

Noticing his team-mate's attention, the fiery man grinned and launched poison-tipped kunai to where Genma was.

Genma leaped off of his branch just in time, giving away his position completely.

The Taijutsu-based man continued leaping across the trees before calmly flying up to Genma and launching a fist at him.

Cursing, Genma realised that he couldn't match the guy's speed, so he raised his arms to block the hit. Unfortunately, the kid's punch packed a lot more than Genma thought it would and he was launched back further than he had anticipated. The kid spared no time and continued dashing for him. Not wanting the kid to get the best of him this time, Genma extracted his senbon and threw them at the kid as he was running straight for him. All of the poisonous needles hit but the kid appeared unaffected.

_What?_ Genma thought incredulously. _No way! That poison affects _everyone_!_ He thought despairingly.

Too caught up in his thoughts, he was nearly unprepared when there was another punch aimed for him. Milliseconds before a hit could be landed, he shoved himself up onto the cliff above him and smirked challengingly.

The kid stared up at him through his long fringe. Genma found it disconcerting to be stared at even though the kid's eyes were wrapped in bandages. Suddenly, the kid flew up and launched another punch at him. The brunet man back-flipped and just about evaded the hit.

Raidou stared longingly at Genma and clenched a fist against his chest, biting his lip worriedly. He tensed when he felt pressure on his shoulder and turned to face Anko.

Noticing her comrade's distress, she offered a rare smile. "C'mon," she said. "Genma would want you to complete your mission. The quicker we do this, the quicker you can release your sexual tension." She smirked now.

If the situation was less tense, Raidou would have blushed and put up a fuss. Instead, he nodded and followed Anko to hide their presence, awaiting their chance to get into the shrine.

Seeing that Genma had preoccupied the speedy kid, Naruto locked eyes with Hayate and nodded.

Hayate extracted his katana and shunshined, appearing behind the woman. Unperturbed still, the girl remained still for a moment.

"Give up, or I'll slit your throat," Hayate threatened convincingly in a heavy voice before coughing once.

The girl stared blankly forward before twisting her head back in a distorting way. She locked eyes with him and he suddenly froze and dropped his katana, looking rigid. The girl's head became normal again and she took a step forward before turning to face him.

The fiery man laughed heartily before lifting his hands and waving them around. Naruto couldn't understand what he was doing – it wasn't handseals or anything he had ever witnessed before.

Suddenly, Hayate lurched forward and collided with a nearby tree and was then yanked forward by an invisible force before being thrown to the ground, only to be picked up again and have his head banged against the side of the shrine before being shoved into the water.

The man lowered his hands and smiled devilishly. "That was fun. It's not every day I get to do that!" he said cheerily. The girl beside him said nothing.

Naruto stared blankly at him but his eyes were horrified. Not wasting a second, he leapt into the water with an almost inaudible 'splash'. He cast a hasty jutsu that made him speed down through the water like a bullet and latched onto Hayate's now unconscious form. He redid the jutsu and shot up through the water before landing gracefully on the land and placing Hayate down in a safe area.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he said, and ten clones appeared. He ordered five of them to guard Hayate, three to help out Genma and two to go with Anko and Raidou. Nodding, the second lot of five disappeared to do their jobs whilst the first five remained in front of Hayate in defensive positions.

The real Naruto calmly walked onto the battlefield, facing the poker-faced woman, the jovial man and the boss.

"I am asked to show mercy to those I capture," he muttered stoically. "But to you, whom have hurt my team-mate and attacked the other without preamble, I shall not forgive you."

He lunged forward towards the man and woman, and seemed to prepare to attack when he suddenly disappeared. Expecting him to come from behind, both turned around only to see – as they had predicted – the blond flying down at them. They raised their weapons to attack—the man, his odd invisible force he used earlier, and the woman pulled back her cloak's sleeve to reveal a metal replacement arm with a dagger attached—only for the blond to explode into smoke when they had attacked.

Thwarted, they turned to inspect the area expectantly. Both were astonished when they felt a huge wave of gravity pulled them down. Both were yanked through the ground, and they thought that the gravitational force they had felt was being pulled, but the force continued, along with an odd screeching sound with such a high frequency that it actually made their ears start to bleed. They hissed and struggled to free themselves.

"What the fuck?" the fiery man shouted. "What's that fucking sound? It's makin' me deaf! What's goin' on? This ain't no jutsu!"

The girl didn't say anything, but she gritted her teeth and hissed through them. She opened her eyes only to meet flaring cerise ones. She thought the blond boy would freeze up, as her kekkei genkai always did to people without fail, but the blond appeared unaffected. She scowled at Naruto accusingly and whispered icily, "Why are you not affected by my technique?"

Naruto just leered at her and suddenly the screeching sound increased. The fiery man let out a scream and struggled harder whilst the girl winced and took it without sound.

The screeching sound lessened slightly when the boss of them leapt into the fray, making the ground rumble briefly, but the sound didn't decease completely.

The man's silver—almost white—eyes clashed with Naruto's burning crimson ones briefly before he surged forward and held back a fist, prepared to punch the ANBU before him. Naruto leapt upwards and the punch collided with the ground where he stood just moment before, and it was imploded by his punch. Where the ground was merely a second ago, there was now a huge hole.

Wasting no time, Naruto kicked a branch beneath him to make him fly up higher before stopping abruptly and holding up a leg. The boss seemed surprised as to why he wasn't escaping but hastily disregarded it and continued on his path. Naruto's foot collided with the man's stomach. The man wasn't expecting such a strong kick, but he didn't asppear too winded. He winced, but hastily recovered.

Seeing their chance as every one of their enemies were either preoccupied or incapacitated, Anko and Raidou dashed into the temple speedily.

The woman noticed and glanced at them by twisting her head back. "Infiltrators," she whispered calmly despite the sound waves in her ears.

Catching her whisper—by some miracle—the fiery man shouted to his boss, "Boss! These guys are a distraction! Others went in!"

His boss didn't even glance at him but he growled, obviously having heard him and was apparently displeased.

Naruto smirked challengingly. "Come and get me," he mouthed, and noticed the veins throbbing in the man's neck and temple. He was obviously furious that his plan was being wracked. Naruto knew that doing this—riling his enemy up—was risky, but when people were angry they tended to make mistakes. Since this guy seemed very strong, he decided to go with the method of making him too angry to think straight.

Despite Naruto's plan, the man didn't live up to the expectations of 'brutish, strong and stupid.' He seemed quite tactical, actually, which was a flaw in Naruto's plan.

Naruto evaded all of the punches aimed at him, but they kept coming. To fight back, he would have to let himself be hit. He had to risk it. _Hey, I'm known as unpredictable. Why don't I live up to it?_ He mused vaguely, and purposely wrongly dodged the hit so that the hit landed. Instead of in his face as he had expected, the blow landed on his side. He had evaded slightly, because he didn't want the man to work his strategy out, but half-evading the hit proved to be the wrong thing to do and the loutish man's hit landed on his side and he twitched slightly when he felt something in his chest crack. _Broken rib. Even with Kyuubi's healing powers, it still takes at least twelve hours to heal broken bones_, he thought, inwardly cursing but keeping calm.

Both men landed squarely on the ground. The 'boss' began charging chakra in his right hand. It was like Kakashi's chidori, Naruto realised. However, it seemed to be made up of some odd kind of chakra—like clashing fire and ice. Naruto spared a glance at the man and woman stuck in the ground only to see their odd chakra being sucked in by their bosses attack.

Naruto frowned. _His power source is his comrade's chakra. To get rid of that, I'll have to kill them. I'm not going to do that—I refuse to kill for the sake of this. But what else can I do?_ Gritting his teeth, Naruto thought quickly. _If I distract him and keep fighting, he won't be able to concentrate long enough to suck out their chakra and use that attack on me. All right, let's give it a shot_.

"Uzumaki… Pin Missile!" Naruto said. He clapped his hands together, which then shone with his blue chakra—he didn't rely on Kyuubi's, after all—and yanked up a huge piece of rock that was about four foot wide and seven feet long. He glared but twitched when a twinge of pain exploded in his ribs. He ignored it and launched his huge clump of rock at the man as he charged his attack.

The man growled irately. If he dodged, he'd have to stop charging his attack and begin it again. He had realised that he could only charge his attack two times in one battle – if he did it a third time, the two people's chakra he was using would die.

Glaring furiously, the man dodged just in time and the rock just scraped his side, but nonetheless it seemed to hurt like hell. Where the rock connected with the man's arm, the arm was hanging limply at an odd angle and was bleeding profusely from where a sharp edge of the rock collided with it.

Naruto was pleased to note that it was his right arm – the one he used for his attack.

Also apparently noticing that, the man became even more angry. His whitish eyes flew over to Naruto and slowly became greyer and greyer until becoming completely and utterly black.

"You little brat!" the man snarled hatefully. "I will kill you!" he screamed wrathfully, roaring angrily as he ripped out a tree from the ground and launched it at Naruto with amazing speed.

Naruto leapt up and kicked the tree to speed upwards. Whilst in the air, he gathered a ball of blinding cerulean chakra in one hand before flying down to the man and launching his attack at him. The man growled and grabbed Naruto's wrist before the attack collided and twisted it until there was an audible 'crack!'.

The blond winced in pain and for a moment, the man thought he had triumphed, when there was a blinding puff of smoke. Pain erupted in his back and he gasped in agony. He glanced back only to see the blond boy's attack from before buried in his back. As if only just comprehending what had happened, blood spurted out of his mouth, his eyes rolled back into his eyes, and he fell forward.

The man buried in the ground's eyes widened. "Boss!" he shouted, concern evident in his voice.

The girl that seemed impassive suddenly blinked in astonishment. "Bo…ss…?" she whispered almost soundlessly.

The man's eyes filled with tears and he thrashed around. "Boss! Boss! Wake up! Get _up_, damn it! Stop lying there and _get the hell up_!" he screamed hysterically.

The girl just stared ruefully before closing her eyes, accepting it quietly.

"Let us out!" the man shouted at Naruto, who was now grasping his wrist and staring down at the man he defeated. "Let us out! Leave boss 'lone, damn it! Let us"—he choked—"go!"

Naruto stared at them blankly and murmured, "This is the life of a shinobi. Get over it, or get out of it. Now, if you don't mind." He turned to leave. "I'm going to go and help my team-mates."

And he was gone.

O—o—O—o—O

Scanning the entire perimeter and not seeing anything, Naruto closed his eyes and listened. He eventually heard the sound of clashing metal and dashed in that direction with inhuman speed—just a yellow flash of light.

He arrived just in time to deflect a kunai from hitting Genma right in the eye.

"Ta—Taichou!" the brunet man shouted, astonished. "What's happening?" he asked gravely, preparing for the worst but unable to diminish the small flicker of hope. His attention was once again captured by the enemy when the fast kid flew at them from above, flying downwards in a nosedive, aiming for Naruto at first. "Taichou!" Genma shouted in panic. He swiftly extracted several senbon from his pouch tied to his right leg and commenced launching them towards the oncoming speedy kid.

Again, the senbon hit their target with pin-point precision and yet didn't seem to affect the enemy at all; he just continued flying down with his amazing speed.

Genma cursed under his breath and pulled out some kunai. If his poison didn't work, he would have to go back to natural shinobi weaponry. (He refused to think of his senbon as customary common tools – they were way too awesome for that!)

However, when he raised his kunai to block the approaching nosedive but was knocked out of the way by Naruto, and the blond sped out of the way before being caught by the attack.

"Genma, my clones were destroyed, were they not?" he enquired as he made hasty hand seals. "Phoenix Serpent no Jutsu!" he said as a huge blazing fire took the shape of a snake-like creature with wings.

Transfixed, Genma could only stare at the flaming beast with wide and amazed eyes, mouth agape as the beast let out a shrill blaring sound and launched upwards to the speeding boy in the trees. The fire-serpent danced around the kid briefly—toying with its 'food'—before lurching forward and wrapping around the speeding kid, wrapping him in a whirlwind of blistering heat and flames. The kid that hadn't said anything up until then let out a huge shrill yell of agonised pain. The flaming beast was unperturbed by the flaming serpent – if anything, it was fuelled by it. Its flames twitched and it wrapped itself around him tighter before Naruto felt a twinge in his ribs and released the jutsu.

The kid gasped when the flames around him dissipated into carbon dioxide and he fell down through the sky. Naruto caught the kid as he fell and didn't wince, even when he felt his ribs cracking more. He lowered the kid to the ground and inspected him.

"Y—yeah," Genma finally said, having regained himself after what he had seen. He was mildly disturbed, but he knew that ANBUs had to do these kinds of things—killing. "Your clones… they were destroyed when I threw senbon at that guy and he dodged, leaving the clones to get hit instead."

Naruto nodded in response, displeased with himself. "I was too busy concentrating on my own fight to give my clones enough chakra to withstand the battle I sent them to." He interlocked his gaze with Genma's, and the man suddenly felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny of such a powerful man — or boy. It was hard to believe that this person was only twelve. "I'm sorry, Genma. Please forgive my mistake." Naruto bowed low.

Genma, startled, held his hands up and waved them. "No—no, it's alright, Taichou. You were fightin' three guys at once, so…"

"That is no excuse." Naruto scowled at the floor and nodded at the brunet man before gesturing towards the unconscious kid behind them. "He has first and second degree burns, so he won't be too badly damaged—not for a shinobi of his rank, at least—but I doubt he will be doing something like this again. The three I was fighting are immobilised. Hayate's unconscious and I have five clones protecting him – I can still feel their chakra, so they're in no trouble yet. Anko and Raidou have entered the shrine," he informed the man.

"So…" Genma chewed a new senbon with slight nervousness but began regaining his composure hastily. "What's our next course of action, Taichou?"

"You guard Hayate along with my clones, just in case. I'll enter the shrine and help out Anko and Raidou as much as possible. Tie this kid up in case he wakes up – use chakra thread. I'll be out in less than twenty minutes, so don't worry but be careful."

"Yes, Taichou." Genma formed chakra thread and quickly began tying the speedy but now unconscious kid to a tree tightly.

"Do your best," Naruto said before leaping into the trees and back to the shrine. He found that the big man was still unconscious, and the man and woman in the ground were also unconscious now—probably due to the screeching noise Naruto had left them.

He hastily tied up their proclaimed "boss," with chakra thread just to be safe before dashing into the shrine. He back-flipped when spikes flew out of the walls, which just scarcely missed him by a few centimetres. As they kept flying out, Naruto glared at them in annoyance before launching a shuriken through them and slicing them all in half. He dashed through the middle where they had been sliced with great haste, not wasting time for them to possibly regenerate.

Naruto leapt over a huge hole in the ground with practiced ease but halted upon seeing specs of blood on the floor. He knelt before it and inspected the red substance before his glare increased slightly. _It's Raidou's blood_, he realised. Not wasting any time, Naruto sped along the corridors. A large stone door began collapsing down before him slowly as walls began to close in on him. Naruto launched a kunai at the lowering door which halted it briefly—stuck. Naruto dashed along quickly before skidding and lowering himself down to slide under the small crack of the door. He yanked his kunai out and the stone door slammed shut just as the walls behind it crashed together.

The blond inspected the area around him. As he assessed it, the sapphire in his eyes seemed to wash away like a wave in the sea and slowly, fragments of silver shard-like things covered his eyes, which were now silvery-grey.

With terrifying calmness, Naruto ordered, "Show yourself."

Slowly, a silhouetted shadow emerged from the darkness. The only thing that was discernable on the figure was its glasses that reflected light that shone upon them.

"Ah, Naruto-chan," the figure said smugly. _As per usual_, thought Naruto in distaste. "It's so good of you to show up."

"Believe me, it isn't for your benefit," Naruto muttered and scowled. He clenched his fists but his silvery eyes remained impassive. "Where are my team?" he asked.

Adjusting its glasses, the figure murmured complacently, "Why, Naruto-chan, how rude of you."

Naruto remained silent, merely glaring at the contemptuous man before him.

"Oh, the silent treatment?" The man chuckled amusedly. "How adorable." Smirking, he tilted his head to the right. "They're right over there. You can have them back," he paused dramatically before smirking. "_If_ you can get to them, at least."

The blond ANBU didn't reply, but he slipped on his fox mask and got into a fighting position. His opponent smirked more and slipped into a defensive position similar to that of Naruto's offensive one.

Both lurched forward with astonishing speed – merely harsh blurs to most. The sound of metal clashing against metal were the only sounds and Kabuto smirked when his kunai embedded itself in what he suspected to be one of Naruto's clones' chests. His smirk faltered, however, when real blood dripped from the kunai, and the blond stared up at him with a small smirk.

"_If_ I can?" he repeated challengingly, making Kabuto grit his teeth in frustration. Why was this kid so darn unpredictable?

He swerved around, prepared for an onslaught of clones attacking him. He was surprised to find none. He turned back hastily only to find the blond gone and a dummy in his place with a sign on reading, '_Bite me, loser_.'

He gasped in surprise when he felt something tight clinging around his neck and preventing him from breathing properly. He felt blood dribble down his neck and cringed. Looking down, he noticed that it was chakra thread. His black eyes widened. _What now?_ He thought fearfully.

Using Kabuto's distracted state as an advantage, Naruto dashed over to his comrades. He untied them both and slung the half-conscious Raidou over his shoulders. He nodded to Anko. "Let's go."

O—o—O—o—O

Naruto landed steadily on the ground before Hayate and Genma, the latter leaning over the former with a concerned frown on his face. Genma, upon hearing them land, swerved around and paled instantly when he saw Raidou's half-limp form leaning against their Taichou.

Naruto's clones stared seriously at the original for a moment. They silently communicated before the clones dashed back to the shrine to make sure everything was in order.

Genma stood and faced Naruto gravely. The blond handed Raidou over to the other brunet man, who took him gently in his arms. Anko advised him to carry Raidou back piggy-back style, and the senbon-user agreed and rearranged himself and his luggage.

"Want me to carry Hayate, Taichou?" Anko offered gruffly but gently.

"It's alright," Naruto said, slinging one of Hayate's arms over his shoulders without wincing despite the sound of his ribs cracking again. "I've got him." He regarded his team before nodding. "You have obtained the scrolls?"

"Yeah," Anko answered, flashing the scrolls that she had ticked into her jacket.

"Good." Nodding again, the blond prepared to take off. "Let's get back to Konoha – stat."

He leapt off from the ground and from tree to tree with his team not far behind.

O—o—O—o—O

When they had arrived at Konohagakure no Sato, Naruto had had to let Anko take Hayate to the hospital as no one could know about his ANBU status. Izumo had been exceedingly worried, along with Kotetsu, and had asked if they needed assistance. With a polite smile, they turned down the request. Izumo had looked torn, but knowing about how determined that team were, nodded and reluctantly sat down with Kotetsu patting his arm reassuringly and telling him with his cheesy grin, "They'll pull through – they always do."

Then Anko and Genma carried their burdens to the hospital to get medical assistance whilst Naruto headed to the Hokage tower to hand in his report. He bowed slightly before handing his report over to Sarutobi, who had regarded him seriously.

"How did the damage become so terrible?" he enquired after hearing the part about Naruto's team's injuries. "It was only a B-rank."

Shaking his head, Naruto said, "You had the wrong information, Hokage-Jiji. It was A-rank, at least. The scrolls were even rarer than the client had made out, and not to mention Kabuto was there, which means that the mission was related to Orochimaru in someway. We couldn't retreat because the four guards noticed us."

"What happened to those guards?" Sarutobi asked, frowning.

"All of them were knocked unconscious and all immobilised; two tied in chakra thread and two buried in the ground," Naruto reported professionally.

Nodding slowly, the Hokage accepted that. "I will inflict the proper necessary punishment upon the client as soon as possible." His stern face became gentler. "Go home and rest, Masked Fox."

Naruto nodded and bowed. "Yes, sir."

In a puff of smoke, he was gone.

O—o—O—o—O

Despite the Hokage's instructions for him to return home and take it easy, Naruto first found it necessary to stop off at the hospital. He was tired—not to mention his chest hurt like hell—but he insisted upon visiting Hayate's and Raidou's rooms. Both were still unconscious, but the nurses had stiffly informed him that they were all right and would recover within a couple of days at most. She had also politely requested (irately insisted) that the leave (because he was disrupting the hospital by simply being there). He had simply nodded and departed without complaint, but he vowed to bring both of the men flowers tomorrow. He didn't care if the nurses got pissed off at him—he needed to be sure that his team were all right.

Not wanting to return to the solace of his apartment straight away, Naruto stopped at the Yamanaka flower shop. He found Ino lounging around in boredom, just leaning against the desk and sighing as she stared into space. He picked out two yellow roses (since they symbolised friendship and getting well) and placed them side-by-side on the glass surface.

"Shinobi should always be alert," he suddenly said, snapping Ino out of her trance.

The blonde kunoichi swerved around and glared before blinking in befuddlement. "Naruto?" she asked.

"The one and only," he replied.

"Why are _you_ here?" she asked, half rude and half curious.

Raising his brows, Naruto enquired, "Is this not a flower shop?"

Ino nodded.

"I'd like to purchase some flowers?" He phrased it as a question, looking slightly irritated. He was tired and in no mood to be acting, thank you very much.

"Oh," Ino said. "Right." She grasped the two yellow roses gently before asking, "Together or separate?"

"Separate, please."

She nodded and wrapped them both up separately – one in white paper, and one in silver. She tied a silver ribbon around the white paper and a white ribbon around the silver paper before handing them back to Naruto.

"Two hundred yen," she said.

Naruto grabbed the money out from his pocket, put it in her hand softly, took the flowers and departed.

The blonde girl huffed. "What, no 'thank you'? How rude!" she exclaimed before counting the money to make sure she hadn't been ripped off. Blinking, she realised that he had given her double the amount of what she had requested. "I guess next time… I'll give him a few flowers for free…"

She looked up when the bell sounded, signalling the arrival of another customer. She shoved the money into the cash register and put on a big sweet smile. "How may I help you?" she asked politely.

"I'll just take a bouquet of gerbera daisies, please," a smooth voice requested.

Ino opened her cobalt blue eyes and blinked in surprise. "Kakashi-sensei?" she asked. "You're buying flowers?"

"I wouldn't be in a flower shop if I wanted to buy books." The man's visible eye curved into an upside-down 'u'.

"Uh… Yeah, that's true…" Ino murmured. Shaking off her feeling of déjà vu, she gently grasped the requested flowers, slipping in some décor flowers on the side and wrapping them in bright yellow paper with an orange ribbon, matching the gerbera daisies. "Um… that'll be five hundred yen," she informed him.

The man beamed and placed the requested amount in her hand before grabbing the bouquet and humming merrily on his way out.

"That was seriously weird. …Hey! Kakashi-sensei didn't give me the correct amount! Argh! Kaa-san, we've got a cheapskate on our hands!"

"That's nice, dear."

"You're not listening to me!"

"You do have lovely hair, sweetheart."

"…Whatever. Forget it. It's your money, anyway. Not my problem."

"What? Did you steal my money, Ino?"

"…Ugh. Parents."

O—o—O—o—O

The next morning, Naruto groggily awoke. He didn't have any mission today as it was the matsuri – nearly all shinobi had a day off. However, he had to arrive at the hospital early to give Hayate and Raidou their flowers.

Pushing himself out of bed, he halted upon feeling the remaining pain in his ribs. It hadn't been a full twenty-four hours, so his ribs still hurt a bit. He sighed irately and took a hasty shower before wrapping his torso in bandages to protect himself from more damage, and then he left. He hid his kimono under his bed just in case people snuck in and sabotaged his apartment. He could seal it off, but the villagers would accuse him of doing 'evil things.' …Idiots.

He made his way to the hospital at a leisurely pace, ignoring the abhorring glares and whispers. He arrived soon enough and first went to Hayate's room. Kotetsu was in there with a sleeping Izumo leaning against his shoulder. He smirked at Naruto and mouthed, "He fell asleep, the idiot."

Naruto just smiled fondly and shook his head before retrieving and extra blanket from cabinet and throwing it over the two. Kotetsu smiled gratefully and the blond nodded in response, almost laughing when Izumo snuggled up to Kotetsu more.

Hayate was still unconscious so he left the flower in a vase beside his bed. He pulled Hayate's blankets up slightly higher before smiling again and departing to go to Raidou's room.

Naruto's smiling face softened at the scene before him. Raidou was also still unconscious and Genma was leaning against his bed, also asleep now. He probably hadn't left the burn victim's side all night. Naruto left the yellow rose in a vase again before getting yet another blanket for Genma, smiling at them both, and then heading off.

The sun was higher in the sky, but it was still another five hours and forty-five minutes before he had to meet Kakashi, so he decided to go for a walk. He planned to go to the top of the Hokage Mountain and praying at the KIA stone but fate had other plans.

"Naruto," Sakura said in surprise. "Why are you out? It's everyone's day off – I thought you would be sleeping… or eating ramen." She smiled.

Naruto smiled back and shrugged dismissively. "Just making visits, wondering around… you know," he said, shrugging. "How about you?" he asked, changing the spotlight from him to Sakura.

"Actually," the girl said. "I was just grocery shopping, 'cause my kaa-san's sick. Afterwards, I was going to go to Hinata's for a kunoichi-only training session." She fidgeted briefly before determinedly asking, "Do you want to come, too?"

Naruto blinked before raising a brow. "Sakura-san, I don't know if you've noticed, but… I'm not a kunoichi," he said.

The pink-haired girl rolled her eyes. "I know that, Naruto!" she exclaimed in exasperation. "But I'm sure Hinata won't mind, besides… you don't act…" She waved her hands around as if that would explain her. "Well, I don't view you as a guy," she finally said.

"…Excuse me?"

Sakura put her hands on her hips. "I'm sorry, Naruto, but you just give of this… 'friend only' aura." She scrunched her nose up. "I mean, you're totally sweet and strong and everything," she said. _And the kindest, most selfless person I know…_ she thought, trying not to blush. "But… I dunno, you just seem like a best friend kind of person."

"…I'm a guy…"

"Just don't try to prove it." Sakura rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm. "Come on, we're going to Hinata's whether you want to or not. I just have to stop off at my house first to give my kaa-san the groceries or she'll kill me. And besides," she said. "Hinata's cousin—what's his name? Neji?—is a guy. You can hang out with him if you want."

"I'd rather supervise your training, but I'd like to get along with him." _Or try to, anyway. I do believe the boy hates me_.

"Sure, whatever. Let's go, Naru-chan."

"…What did you just call me, Sakura-san?"

"'Naruto'! I said 'Naruto'!"

"…Sure."

"Just… shut up, Naruto."

"I don't take orders, Sakura-san."

"…You're insufferable!"

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Argh!"

_She sounds like a pirate_.

**O—o—O—o—O**

**-**_stares blankly at screen before falling asleep on the keyboard_- _**SLAM!**_ ...Ow.

_NARUTO_ © Kishimoto Masashi. Not mine. This fanfic is in no way involved with the actual _NARUTO_.

I'm gonna… sleep… now. Had to wake up early 'cause my friend needed my assistance with something she was filming. Tomorrow I have to wake up early because my grandmother's going to the doctors so I have to go to her house and take care of it whilst my mother takes her. I have tonnes of homework, and then I'm going out with my friends on Friday. …I hate being busy.

Reviews are appreciated but not necessary. It isn't really that difficult to click that button below this and write _some _kind of constructive criticism. Eh, no matter. Hasta luego.


	13. Author's Note

**Hey, guys. I know everyone abhors these notes—as do I, admittedly—but this time I deem it necessary enough. This will possibly be deleted… soon enough… sometime in the distant future…**

**In any case, as I am aware of, there does appear to be 'plot holes' in this story. The reason being, when I first started writing this story, I was pathetic at stories—plots, grammar… everything. However, now I have adapted more and I shall eventually be going over everything.**

**Thank you all for the constructive criticism—it does help a lot. Now onto the 'plot holes' – yes, Gaara is only twelve but he is the Kazekage, thanks to Naruto's help. That entire scene will be revealed in a future chapter, possibly just before the time-travel, which will be quite far-off. In spite of that, Gaara will still be in the Chuunin exams. He won't be losing control of Shukaku nor will most of the canon occurrences in the future occur in the rest of this story. From now on, this story goes quite AU-ish.**

**As you may now be aware of, the 'Sasuke retrieval arc' won't be the same… at all. As Naruto's an ANBU Black Ops captain, there is a miniscule chance of him losing to a Genin, even if it is an Uchiha. As such, you'll probably guess the outcome. Soon after that, the time-travel occurs—first to the past and later to the future.**

**However, I will most definitely revise the entire story again and edit it enough so that 'plot holes' won't be evident, alright? Please bear with it for now. –**_**bows**_**— Thank you very much.**

**By the way… anata wa gē desu ka? Heh. I love that question…**

—_**coughs**_**— Anyway, the festival is in the next chapter, and that's about fifty-six percent complete. Thank you for your patience!**


	14. Missions and Matsuri Part B

Folding his arms as he perched on the veranda of the house, Naruto was watching the kunoichi train. They were all doing a satisfactory job (for Genin), but Naruto could see all the minor flaws they made that could feasibly get them killed on the battlefield. He honestly hoped he wasn't so pathetic when he was a Genin. He shuddered at the thought.

When Ino and Sakura got into a squabble about who won, Naruto decided it was time for him to intervene lest the Hyuuga household get brutally murdered in the two girl's feud.

He leapt off of the roof and landed in between them, catching both of their punches that were aimed for each other.

All of the girls started in surprise with wide eyes. TenTen whistled. "Impressive, kiddo. You're stronger than you look," she said with a grin. "You could give Neji a run for his money."

Naruto stared blankly at her and sighed. _Acting time_, he thought agitatedly.

Not letting go of the girl's hands since they would probably take that chance to kill each other, Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Hehe! You think so, TenTen-san?" he enquired with fake-cheer.

Sakura stopped struggling in his grip to frown at him in disappointment and bemusement. He was acting again, putting up that mask. Although she hated it, she didn't call him on it because, for one thing, he would most likely lose the miniscule bit of trust he had given her, and for another she wanted him to stop using the mask himself – she wanted him to know that he could depend on people. She wanted him to know that he had friends.

TenTen, oblivious to Sakura's disenchantment and Naruto's indifferent feelings, just smiled brightly.

"Anyway," Naruto began firmly in what Anko and Genma had dubbed 'Lecture Mode 1' (there were up to four). "Your training is amateurish at best." He scowled at Ino when she was prepared to intervene, so she instantly shut her mouth and stared at the blond boy. "All of you specialise in one particular area, so instead of just focusing on that, you should help each other increase your skills at what you aren't good at." He glanced at TenTen, who smiled. "TenTen-san's skilled with weaponry and battle tactics—not to mention, she has an amazing aim. She could teach you that. Right, TenTen-san?" he asked.

The brunette girl gave him a thumbs-up, which Naruto guessed she had got from being around Gai and Lee for so long. "Sure! I'd be happy to help!" she said jubilantly.

Naruto nodded, obviously pleased. "Hinata-san has the Byakugan, but that isn't her only good trait in fights." The dark-haired girl flushed slightly and poked her fingers together nervously, not used to being praised. "She assesses situations carefully before making moves. She doesn't act rashly"—he glanced at Ino and Sakura here—"and so she could show you how to properly assess situations and act in others. Isn't that correct, Hinata-san?"

The girl nodded meekly and squeaked, "Y—yes!"

The blond boy then said, "Ino-san doesn't only have the mind possession technique at her disposal. She has many more traits that will benefit her in battle—she just needs to discover them, and I'm sure you can help her do that. Shinobi have one particular field they specialise in—everyone does—but that doesn't mean that you can't be good at something else."

Ino's cobalt eyes widened in shock and she let her hands drop to her sides, astonished that this boy who everyone always talked down about was so intelligent and sombre.

"And Sakura-san…" Naruto turned to the pink-haired girl and smiled truly, earning another in response from the girl. "She thinks to lowly of herself. She is a very determined young woman who has seemed to possess fantastic Taijutsu skills and is currently training to become a medic-nin. Isn't that right, Sakura-san?"

The green-eyed girl flushed slightly and she nodded. "Yeah…" she said shyly before straightening up and grinning. "Yes, I am!" she said determinedly.

"There you have it," Naruto said with a smile and took a step back. "Focus on helping each other. After all, there is that saying—'all for one, and one for all'."

Everyone stared at him with wide-eyes before TenTen suddenly laughed. "So moe…" she said under her breath, ignoring Ino's question of what the heck she was talking about.

"Don't be foolish," a deep voice said.

"N—Neji-niisan…" Hinata said weakly, skittish.

Naruto sighed and folded his arms. _And queue the lowering-everyone's-self-esteem killjoy bastard…_ He thought soberly. "Foolish?" the blond repeated wearily, having dealt with brat's like this guy so many times before that it lost all meaning. "How so?" he asked, not even looking at the boy. _If I meet many more people who act like Uchiha Sasuke, I think I'll become brooding myself. They are honestly utterly insufferable…_

"Everyone has a destiny set out for them," Neji muttered darkly, narrowing his pale lavender eyes on the uninterested blond, who appeared exceedingly nonchalant at that point. "No matter what they do, they can never overcome it. Everything is set out and the events will play out in what destiny wants it to be like. We can do nothing to stop it."

Naruto raised his gaze and meet Neji's, and the Hyuuga froze when he saw who utterly icy those eyes looked at that moment. He almost shuddered at how emotionless and cold they were.

"Destiny?" Naruto repeated frostily. "That's just a word to me, Hyuuga," he said, glaring seriously at the elder boy. "Do you honestly believe that? That's pathetic." Naruto smirked, but it was empty. "Anyone can overcome anything if they try. 'Destiny' is just something that people who don't want to try spout off to make people's self-esteem plummet down. That's what you do to Hinata-san, is it not?"

Pale lavender and chilling silvery-blue collided when their eyes met dead-on and Neji felt himself freeze completely; he literally felt paralysed.

Naruto lowered his arms and stared indifferently at Neji. "Do you know what the opposite of love is, Hyuuga?" he asked, confusing everyone.

Neji, being frozen by Naruto's eyes, remained unmoving, whilst the kunoichi behind the blond boy looked rather nervous.

"Most people think it's hate," Naruto said, unperturbed. "But I don't think so. I think it's indifference. As they say, 'there's a thin line between love and hate.' If you hate someone, that hate's got to come from somewhere. But if you feel nothing—absolutely nothing—for someone, then that is basically thinking of them as nonexistent.

"You say you hate many people, Hyuuga," Naruto said, not blinking. "Are you sure that's what you really feel?"

He finally broke his gaze, and Neji collapsed to his knees, feeling as if he had just come out of water.

Silence reigned heavily for a moment before Sakura reluctantly and gently placed an arm on Naruto's shoulder. She looked frightened as she said skittishly, "Na—Naruto? Are… you okay?"

The blond boy's eyes shifted to her, but they were no longer that unfeeling grey. They sparkled sapphire once more. "I'm alright, Sakura-san," he informed her in a professional tone. "But I think I have overstayed my welcome. Perhaps I should leave—"

"No!"

Everyone turned to look at Hinata in astonishment. Or in Naruto's case, amusement. He was glad that the girl could find her voice sometimes.

"U—um, tha—that is…" she began nervously, twiddling her fingers. "Ple—please stay, Na—Naruto-kun… I—I… um… it's g—good to have you he—here, and you're very helpful, s—so… s—so I—I… I…!"

"Stay."

Everyone whirled around to look at Neji. Naruto couldn't help but think, _What is this, live theatre? How troublesome_.

Naruto folded his arms and regarded the Hyuuga boy pointedly. The boy met his eyes despite his nerves. _He's got guts, I've got to give him that…_ the blond thought.

"Oh, you want me to stay? I didn't know you cared, Neji," Naruto teased, smirking.

Neji glared in response, but a dusty pink settled over his cheeks.

TenTen snickered in the background, clearly amused. When Neji shot her an agitated scowl, she just beamed innocently at him.

"Why do you want me to stay?" Naruto asked, unperturbed that someone related to a powerful clan was getting riled up. It was more amusing than anything really.

Neji's scowl deepened and he clenched his fists. "I…" I began.

Naruto met his eyes, which had softened ever-so-slightly. _He knows why, but his pride is in the way of it. I suppose I'll move things along. As Hoshiko-sensei said, 'You have never have to many allies,'_ Naruto thought, not wanting to replace 'allies' with 'friends'. He wasn't ready for that yet… To be truthful, he didn't know if he would ever be ready, but he would give it a shot. Everyone should try to get over their fears, at least.

"Do you want to train with us, Neji?" the blond offered amiably, smiling softly and outstretching his arm to offer the Hyuuga a hand.

Neji hesitated and glared at the hand despite how much he wanted to be included, and Naruto felt empathy for him; he knew how it felt to be isolated and feel all alone. If Neji wanted to get anywhere in life, though, he would have to learn to accept help sometimes.

"Y—yes, Neji-niisan…" Hinata spoke up, clenching her fists at her chests and staring up at her cousin in determination. "P—please stay! I—I would like that v—very much, Neji-niisan. So… please stay," she finished.

Neji appeared slightly surprised by Hinata's sudden outburst but hastily regained his composure and maintained and uncaring posture. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists before swatting Naruto's hand away.

"I refuse."

He turned to walk back into the Hyuuga mansion when he could have sworn he heard a sigh of defeat from Hinata. He ignored it, however, and slammed open the shōji doors and entered the washitsu**(1)**.

"He's always like that," TenTen said in her usual jubilant tone, but Naruto could hear the undertone of resignation. "So, don't worry about him, Hinata-chan!"

Hinata looked up at her in surprise before nodding. "Y—yes," she said quietly.

Sakura looked away from the two girls when she heard footsteps, only to see Naruto entering the house and heading to the washitsu. "Naruto?" she said in confusion. "Where are you going?" she asked.

The other girls looked up to watch Naruto, who had his back to them as he was entering the house. He paused at the shōji and said blatantly, "I'm going to beat some sense into an oblivious, obtrusively obnoxious and arrogant adolescent." He turned and smiled at Sakura over his shoulder. "I'll be back soon, so keep training. I want to see you all helping each other."

And the shōji slid shut.

**O—o—O—o—O**

Neji twitched from his position on the tatami flooring, but he didn't acknowledge the other person's presence. Footsteps sounded and stopped behind him.

The Hyuuga's brow twitched after five minutes of an uncomfortable silence and when he realised the other boy wasn't retreating, he gritted out, "What do you want?"

"You disappointed Hinata, you know," Naruto replied, ignoring Neji's question. The blond folded his arms and leant against one of the many fusuma, much to Neji's irritation.

"Whatever the main house of Hyuuga deals with has nothing to do with me." Neji scowled irately at Naruto. "Now _leave_," he hissed.

Naruto began examining his nails, unperturbed by the boy's agitation. "I refuse." Naruto looked at Neji with a completely stoic face.

The Hyuuga boy clenched his fists against his knees, clutching the fabric as his temper flared. "I outrank you, Uzumaki, so if you know what's good for you, you will leave now."

"No."

Neji looked up hastily, incredulity plastered clearly on his features. No one defied him apart from Hiashi-sama and people of the main household. Speedily regaining his composure, the boy gritted out, "My clan holds far more power than yours—that is, if you even _have_ a clan. I've never heard of the 'Uzumaki' clan." He smirked triumphantly but when he noticed that the blond was still completely impassive and unaffected, he felt fury build up within him.

Noticing Neji's obvious growing anger, Naruto softened slightly. "I don't want to be your enemy, Neji," the blond said softly. He unfolded his arms and took a step forward before kneeling in front of Neji. He subconsciously tilted his head as he stared into Neji's pale lavender eyes and offered a small smile. "Listen, Neji. You're either ignoring Hinata or you're just tremendously unintelligent. I don't think it's the latter, Neji, is it?" he asked wearily. "Hinata really respects you, and it hurts her when you just brush her off. So take some advice," said the blond. He lifted a hand and it hovered above Neji's shoulder before he pulled back, his ANBU training kicking in: _"Don't make friends; don't get close to people. Your allies could turn into enemies at any given moment, so don't trust them either. Do not permit physical contact, and don't let emotions rule…"_

Neji noticed that Naruto was reluctant to touch him and frowned in confusion. He had heard the rumours of the Uzumaki kid being clumsy and arrogant, but this boy was nothing like that. There was something hidden there.

"My advice is…" Naruto continued, breaking the eerie silence that reigned after he had almost made contact with another's flesh. "See underneath the underneath." The blond then smiled. "Kakashi taught me that, and I'm passing it on. Next time Hinata talks to you, appraise her. You'll see how much she wants you to acknowledge her."

With that said, the blond stood up and gently pulled open the shōji and departed before sliding it shut again.

"Sakura-san," Naruto called. The addressed girl deflected Ino's attack with a kunai and called a break before turning towards the blond expectantly. "I'm leaving now," he said.

"Already?" Sakura asked, confused. "Did Neji-san upset you…?" she asked cautiously.

Hinata looked up with concern evident in her features. "Are—are you both all right?" she asked weakly.

Naruto offered the timid girl a smile. "We're both fine, don't worry. I just gave him some advice." _And I just hope he takes it_. "Anyway, I'm leaving because of the festival tonight. I have to get ready—"

"You're going to the festival?" Sakura asked with wide jade eyes.

"Yeah," Naruto replied, raising a brow. "Is something wrong with that?"

"Not at all," Sakura replied. "I just didn't think you would go…"

Naruto smiled at her and she blushed. When he offered true smiles, he shone like the sun and his oddly dull grey eyes became a blinding azure/cerulean.

"Do you have something to wear?" Ino asked, gaining her composure hastily enough to ask about his outfit. She eyed his orange jumpsuit in blatant distaste. "Other than that…" she added sceptically.

"Yes, I have something other than this to wear," Naruto replied. _In fact, I have mostly black clothes for ANBU purposes…_ "So no need to worry about my attire, Ino-san."

The blonde girl flipped her ponytail and placed her hands on her hips. "I'll trust you for now," she said. "But if I see you wearing anything… unfashionable… at the matsuri, I'm going to make you some outfits myself!"

Naruto bowed. "I will see you later, everyone," he said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"…He's acting weird," TenTen piped up. "What's with the formalness? We're friends."

"Yeah…" Sakura said wistfully before regaining herself and smiling sheepishly. "I've come to realise that there's more than one side to Naruto."

"Uh-huh," Ino agreed, folding her arms across her chest. "Loathe as I am to admit it, he seems to have a side that's even more mysterious than even Sasuke-kun's."

TenTen rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Can we not talk about boys? I'd rather get some training done."

"Agreed," Hinata said softly, fidgeting.

"All right!" Sakura said, beaming. "Let's do it!" _Let's make Naruto proud_.

**O—o—O—o—O**

Naruto paused outside of his apartment and scowled at the door. _There's people in there…_ He closed his eyes and concentrated. In the darkness of his mind, he saw four chakra signatures. He reopened his eyes and twitched, irritated. _They wish to unnerve me? Let's see how that feels when it backfires on them_, he thought in annoyance.

He pulled open the door and let the kunai hit him. The four people inside gasped in surprise with widened eyes. "It hit him?" one shouted in astonishment.

"N—no way!" another voice yelled.

The four rushed over to the fallen body and screamed when they heard a calm but intimidating voice behind them mutter, "An unannounced visit? That is rather rude."

The four slowly looked up, their movements mechanical. They deflated in relief momentarily before squeaking and jumping back. The only reaction from Naruto was an unimpressed quirk of a brow.

"You—you aren't dead?" Genma asked frightfully.

"We saw the kunai plunge through your throat!" Anko piped up.

Naruto folded his arms and leant against a wall. "Fools." The 'dead' Naruto disappeared in an eruption of smoke. His grey-sapphire eyes shot back to them and they briefly shared a thought that their captain looked like a cat. "I thought you leant to distinct between clones and myself." He smirked evilly and his eyes flashed red briefly despite the fact that he withheld control over his Bijuu. "It appears… we will have to have another Genjutsu lesson, hmm?"

His team swallowed loudly in unison. In spite of Naruto's short stature, he was really threatening and had a rather daunting presence.

Naruto let out a disappointed sigh at their reactions. "My team… are idiots," he muttered to himself, massaging his temples. "Whatever." He cast them a look that they all paled at. "You must leave now. I have to get ready."

Raidou blinked and raised a brow, tilting his head. "Get ready, Taichou?" he asked. "What for?"

"The matsuri," came the bored answer.

"You're going?" his team repeated incredulously.

"Is there any reason I shouldn't?" the blond enquired icily, his grey-sapphire eyes meeting all of theirs. They shook their heads fretfully.

"We're just"—cough—"surprised, Taichou," explained Hayate. "I mean, you've never shown interest in festivals before…"

"I've simply never had time for them." The blond shrugged and unfolded his arms. He strode over to his bedroom and paused briefly. "If there is one spec of dust out of place when I return…" His sapphire eyes became completely icy. "There will be _hell_ to pay." He smirked darkly. "And I know what hell is like." He smiled angelically, but his evil aura didn't help to promote the innocent face. "See you later, guys."

His bedroom door slid shut, and his team scrambled away as terribly as Genin in an embarrassing situation.

**O—o—O—o—O**

Humming a nameless tune, Kakashi leisurely approached Naruto's apartment. In spite of Naruto's protests of not being picked up ("That's sick, Kakashi-san. I was only joking about you being a paedophile at first, but now I'm not so sure. Plus it's humiliating. I'm not some kind of feminine woman."), the Jounin felt it to be more courteous to do so. He even briefly considered leaving his precious _Icha Icha_ at home!

In the end, he decided against it. Just in case he encountered a problem of some sort.

Kakashi looked up upon reaching the blond ANBU's apartment and frowned again, seeing new graffiti. In spite of Naruto's protests in regards of doing something about it and that it didn't bother him; it was plain to see that he had struggled to clean off the old graffiti. It was still visible but mostly washed off.

The Jounin let out a troubled sigh and ascended the stairs to the blond ANBU's apartment but paused when he heard a shout of, "Oh, Kakashi-sensei, you're here?" The Jounin looked up to see the blond waving frantically at him and grinning. He felt a stab of pain realising how fake it was. "I'll be right down. Hang on a sec'!"

Naruto disappeared back into the house briefly before jumping out of the window with cat-like precision. His jump appeared miscalculated, but Naruto's expression didn't change until people were watching him. When the eyes were on him, he put on a surprised and fearful face.

"Gyah!" he cried out as he crash-landed. He immediately sat up and scratched the back of his head sheepishly and laughed.

The civilians rolled their eyes in annoyance. "On such a day like this, he's still acting monstrous."

"It's utterly disrespectful. Children shouldn't act like that!"

"He isn't a normal child though, is he?"

Kakashi was so busy glaring at the villagers that he was actually surprised when someone tapped his arm. He looked down and found Naruto grinning up at him.

"You ready to go yet, sensei?" he asked.

"So his teacher got stuck with him today?" a civilian whispered.

"Better him than one of our relatives. It's risky that Hahue-niisan got promoted – he might have to take care of the brat."

"Yeah, so better him than us. I feel kinda bad for the guy though. Hatake shouldn't have to look after the thing."

"Ssh! I think he can hear us. Let's just leave."

Kakashi scowled. He wanted to do something, but Naruto's pride and his reluctance and anti-sociability wouldn't permit it. Naruto began walking and so he followed.

"Why did you act like that?" he finally blurted out, inwardly berating his lack of etiquette. He used to be an ANBU; he should have been more furtive when prying information from others.

Naruto cast him a patient and patronisingly understanding glance that adults sometimes sent children when they didn't understand something. Kakashi found it unnerving; not many people looked at him like that. He was looked at with admiration and frequently fear. His visible eye widened when Naruto suddenly smiled softly and he was disgusted to find himself blushing.

"If we were to sneak out and somebody had seen us, they'd think you'd want to hang around the Jinchuuriki whereas if I were to force myself on you, they'll realise that you have no choice and were probably appointed to demon-sit me," the blond explained calmly, smiling serenely.

Kakashi stared down at Naruto with a sombre expression. "When I was twelve, I was similar to you, Naruto."

The blond quirked a brow. "Oh?" he murmured dryly. "I assumed Uchiha was most like you, judging by the egotistic, eccentric, malevolent, annoying mannerisms that you both display—"

"Thank you for those kind words," Kakashi muttered sarcastically.

Naruto smirked. "You're welcome. It was my pleasure. 'Though you didn't let me finish."

"I'd prefer it if we didn't," the Jounin mumbled, trying hard not to pout childishly.

The blond boy's lips quirked but he prevented himself from smiling fully. "Not many do enjoy facing their flaws," he mused.

The silver-haired man glanced at his 'student.' "Do you?" he enquired.

Naruto smiled, but it wasn't a happy one. It was poignant; melancholy. "Of course not. No one wants their flaws to be pointed out. I am, however, obviously aware of mine." He cocked his head as he thought, and he stared at the streets before them; empty, but illuminated by colourful lights as they approached the matsuri. "I am also aware of other people's flaws. I am known to be rather empathetic, and as such can get a grasp on other's perspectives." He closed his eyes briefly before folding his arms behind his back and asking, "Do you have any fears, Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected to be asked that. He hummed thoughtfully before realising he should take Naruto's question seriously. Despite being twelve, the boy seemed very wise and serious.

_"K—Ka…kashi… t—take it – my eye, I mean. Take it, and—and save Rin and sensei. I—I want to be… of s—some use… even though I'm inadequate. S—so please… take my Sharingan, Kakashi."_

Kakashi sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Losing people close to me," he finally answered softly. "It's happened so much that you'd think I'd be immune to it, but… it still frightens me." He forced a chuckle. "I'm not a very sufficient shinobi due to that."

"Nonsense."

Kakashi blinked and looked down at the blond. "Nonsense?" he repeated slowly.

Naruto cast him an uninterested look. "I know you're known as the Copy Cat, Kakashi-san, but I don't appreciate being repeated." He sighed, obviously irritated. He closed his eyes as he agitatedly said, "It's stupid to believe that you're an insufficient shinobi merely due to feeling sadness upon one's death – especially when they are close to you. In spite of being shinobi—'fighting tools'—we are still human, and thus feel strong emotions sometimes." His eyes opened slowly, and instead of their usual guarded greyish-sapphire, they were a glittering azure.

"Naruto…" Kakashi said quietly in a soft tone. Naruto hummed in acknowledgement. "Have you… lost someone?"

The blond stared straight ahead, all signs of emotion vanished, and his eyes once more grey. "Everyone has."

The Jounin blinked before growing sombre. "Naruto…"

"We're here."

"Hmm?" Kakashi replied in his usual lazy tone with an underlying tone of confusion.

"Honestly, Kakashi-san, is it that difficult a task to pay attention to your surroundings?" The blond shook his head in mock disappointment and sighed ruefully. "We have arrived at the festival, Kakashi-sa—"

"You can just call me Kakashi, Naruto. Or 'sensei' works too," he said, winking.

Naruto raised a brow. "I doubt it. I'm not going to call someone of lower rank than me 'sensei'." He snorted and rolled his eyes. "Not now that he knows about my mission." The blond paused and turned to Kakashi cautiously with guarded grey eyes. "Speaking of which… if you even attempt to tell anyone of my true status and my mission, your throat will be slit before you can mention my name, Ka-ka-shi," he whispered menacingly, drawing out each syllable.

Kakashi's visible eye widened slightly at the threatening tone and the grey guarded eyes but he calmed hastily and nodded understandingly. An ANBU really would not hesitate to eliminate anyone if they were an inconvenience. Just because Naruto was his 'student' on his mission didn't mean he wouldn't eliminate him as well.

He blinked and glanced back down when he felt a tug on his sleeves. His lips twitched. Naruto was too short to tap his shoulder. His face became more solemn. _A twelve-year-old boy… already lost his family, already an ANBU, and already being targeted by a criminal organisation for a Bijuu… It's not fair…_

His thoughts trailed off and he blinked in surprise when Naruto's steps slowed and he stepped slightly closer to Kakashi. The Jounin smiled softly. Even though he was an ANBU, he was still a kid. A kid who was shunned by the villagers for a 'sin' he didn't commit – for _saving them_ from a demon.

"Where would you like to go first, Naruto?" he asked in a bored tone, opting and hoping for some sense of normalcy.

Naruto blinked and glanced up at him in slight surprise that he would ask what _Naruto_ would _like to do_. "You mean it…?" he asked but hastily coughed into a fist and averted his eyes when he heard how damnably _hopeful_ he sounded.

Kakashi's lips twitched beneath the mask slightly. _He sounded like Obito whenever I offered to train with him…_ he thought contentedly. "Of course," he replied in a low, soft voice.

Naruto suddenly felt shy for some unfathomable reason. It was like when you met your friend's parents for the first time. "Uh…" he pursed his lips. "I'm not sure…" he finally said sheepishly. "Because I've never been to a festival… 'part from one, but that one was…" Naruto shuddered.

The Jounin chuckled. "Was it that bad?"

The blond boy's eyes widened slightly before he scowled. "Yeah, it really was." He twitched. "I had to dress as a freaking maiko."

The silver-haired man quirked a brow as he attempted to imagine Naruto wearing a seductive kimono. He blinked and hastily cleared his throat. "I don't suppose that you're wearing the same kimono now, are you?" he asked dubiously, although he really doubted that the one Naruto was currently wearing—a silk black kimono with beautiful yellow, orange and red dragons embellished with rubies for eyes. His sleeves reminded him of young girl's furisode—they were longer than most men's sleeves, covering his fingertips. They were covered in miniature dragons with their tails curving around the arm until it reached the shoulder.

"Hell no," Naruto muttered, snorting. "I gave it to some old lady and set it on fire whilst she was holding it." He smirked and chuckled when Kakashi blinked in mild horror and surprise. His laugh wasn't boisterous as expected—it was more like gentle wind chimes swaying in a calm breeze. "I'm joking, you idiot," the blond said, smirking at the Jounin. "I still have it, actually."

"Why?" Kakashi couldn't help but wonder aloud, curious.

"Hoshi—" Naruto paused and corrected himself, "My first trainer left it to me in his will. Some kind of a sick joke. He was always making me cross-dress, the bastard." He rolled his eyes but Kakashi noticed the fondness in those glittering azure orbs. "To be honest, I was surprised that he had a will written already… he was only twenty-four when he died." _It was a couple of weeks before my ninth birthday…_ He shook off his melancholy thoughts and rubbed one of his arms self-consciously. "Well, you can choose what to do. I'm useless at this." He smiled weakly.

Kakashi stared at the small boy for a moment before offering a smile and nodding. "All right…" he replied, humming thoughtfully. "Well, there are places where we can get our pictures taken."

Naruto quirked a brow. "You want to remember this day so much?" He rolled his eyes. "It's not a date, you know. I don't swing that way, I'm afraid. But don't let my rejection dampen your spirits." In spite of saying this, he began trailing over to the photography booths, ignoring Kakashi's sputtering.

The blond boy's eye twitched in a similar way to Umino Iruka's—habits passed down from 'mother' to 'son'?—when he saw all of the picture booths. "Kakashi-san…" he muttered.

"Please, call me Kakashi. No need for formalities."

"…Kakashi-_san_," Naruto stressed. "All of these 'picture booths' are those odd pieces of wood that you stick your head through, posing as another person…"

"Yes. Yes, they are."

"…These ones are all _Icha Icha_ characters."

"Yes. You're correct."

Silence.

"Paedophile."

"Wh—what?"

**O—o—O—o—O**

In the end, they had found one that was innocent enough – it was a depicture of the movie about Yuke-hime or something. It was okay, although Naruto didn't like the fact that he was being depicted as the princess…

Stupid Kakashi-san.

In spite of ranting to Kakashi, the Jounin had noticed when the blond boy had slipped the picture into a fold of his kimono. He didn't bother to hide a smile but he didn't point it out. Naruto would deny it anyway.

They had then moved on to scan various stalls. Kakashi was interested in the one selling _Icha Icha_ merchandise but there was nothing there that he didn't already own. He was hastily pulled away from it by an agitated Naruto who was attempting—and failing—to disguise his fluster.

They had looked through many more stalls but Naruto didn't seem interested in anything—at _all_—until they reached the weapon stall.

The blond had halted and Kakashi had crashed into him. How did anyone so small become like such a rock? It wasn't right!

Kakashi took in Naruto's line of sight and followed it to see an old-looking sword. At first glance it seemed worthless and inadequate, not to mention rusty and worn. The blade, however, was still sharpened with precision and with work from a professional, it would be even sharper. You'd most likely be able to slice someone's head clean off.

The entire thing was silver, but the hilt had a design of intricate patterns on it. There were four small animals engraved on the hilt surrounded by elaborate designs of the elements. The four animals were a fox, a snake, a frog and a hawk. The fox and snake were holding up a red jewel encrusted with tiny topazes along the outside of it.

"Excuse me," he found himself murmuring, easily catching the vendor's attention.

"Ah, yeah, sir, how may I help ya?" the blue-haired woman asked, sticking her hands in the pockets of her dark blue kimono that she must have sewn on by herself.

"How much is that sword?" the Jounin asked, gesturing to the one Naruto was still staring at. The blond boy suddenly blinked out of his trance to stare at Kakashi in confusion.

"Ah, that 'un?" the woman enquired, leaning up to grasp the hilt firmly. She held up the sword for him to inspect before laying it out on the counter before him. "'S four thousand yen. I'll throw in a sheath for ano'er eight 'undred." She grinned amiably and bit her toothpick.

Kakashi nodded and handed her the four thousand before enquiring, "Can you show us some sheaths?" he asked politely, and the woman nodded before shouting, "Oi, Gum-chaaan!" she yelled.

A crash was heard from inside the tent that she had set up her table in front of before someone called, "What is it?" in a moody voice.

"Bring out some sheaths," the tomboyish woman ordered, scratching her forehead above her eye patch.

After a few moments of waiting, a man with pink hair that was terribly disguised by a navy blue bandana stumbled out, trying not to drop the load of sheaths he was holding. He dumped them on the table and folded his arms. "Murasakiii!" he screamed. "Get your ass out 'ere to 'elp!"

"But I'm busyyy," another voice whined. Gum twitched and stormed back into the tent. The sound of laughter and annoyed shouting was heard.

The woman smiled at Kakashi and Naruto, obviously used to this. "'Right, then, jus' look through 'em and leave the cash 'ere." She shoved a box on the counter. "I've gotta go kick my friend's ass 'cause he's teasin' Gum-chan." She waved. "Later."

"She trusts us with her money?" Naruto muttered, seemingly unfazed but a little shocked that the woman left them with her money.

Kakashi shrugged before nodding at the sheaths. "Which do you like?"

The blond boy turned his attention to the mass amount of sheaths in front of him and sweatdropped. He scanned them all with precise eyes, zoning in on any that caught his eye. He suddenly pointed at the pile. "That one."

Kakashi blinked and raised a brow. "Which one?"

Naruto chuckled and removed a snow-white sheath from the pile. It had a small frog on the front made of the same red jewel on the hilt of the sword. It's eyes were the same blue stones, too.

Kakashi nodded. "Good choice. Maybe we can get a professional blacksmith to clean the sword up a bit, and it'll match the sheath more."

Naruto nodded and reached for his wallet, but Kakashi had beat him to it, shoving his own money into the box that the girl had left. Naruto blinked at him with wide, befuddled eyes. He looked his age when he did that…

The Jounin smiled. "Let's call this compensation for me spying on you before."

The blond blinked and opened his mouth to argue but Kakashi placed a finger over the boy's lips and shook his head. He retracted his hand and Naruto coughed awkwardly before muttering an uncomfortable 'thanks.'

**O—o—O—o—O**

"Which flavour do you want, Naruto?"

Upon receiving no response, Kakashi turned around to find the blond staring at his sword, obviously entranced. He chuckled softly and leant down to meet Naruto's eyes.

"Which flavour, Naruto?"

The blond blinked. "Oh… strawberry mochi, please."

Kakashi nodded and requested one strawberry mochi and one green tea. He handed Naruto his strawberry and began licking his own.

The pair began strolling around, taking in the interesting sights and occasionally partaking in a game or two.

"I think I should head home now…" Naruto began quietly as the sky began darkening as the late afternoon crept up.

"We should go on a ride or something first." Kakashi glanced around. "How about the Ferris wheel?"

"…I don't want to kiss you."

**O—o—O—o—O—o—O—o—O—o—O—o—O**

**Washitsu —** literally 'Japanese-style room/rooms.' Always have tatami flooring and commonly have shōji.

Sorry this update took so long. I was gonna do a huuuge chapter, covering the entire festival and mission that will occur in the next chapter, but… that didn't work out. xD As such, the mission will be in the next instalment. Some of you'll love me for it, and some will hate me for it. I don't really care. I just love writing. –_sticks tongue out_–

_**NARUTO**_ © Kishimoto Masashi


	15. Powerful New Circus Freaks!

Azure eyes, sparkling due to the dazzling lights reflecting off of rides and stalls, stared intently out at the darkening blue sky. Kakashi found it amazing how a mere Genin could sit so still for such a long period of time, and how his eyes could look so deep and yet so... impassive. Guarded.

Growing tired of the silence, strangely enough, Kakashi searched for a topic he could talk about. What kind of things did Naruto like? It struck him when he realised he really didn't know much about the blond or his likes and dislikes. All he knew was that the kid liked ramen and wanted to be Hokage. Other than that, he really didn't know much about him. He felt guilt spark inside of him for being so clueless of his own Genin's life. _I'm not a very good sensei, am I, Obito? Rin? Minato-sensei? Would you have been ashamed of me...?_

"You look dejected," a smooth voice said, slicing through his thoughts like a cold knife.

Kakashi glanced up to see intriguing blue eyes staring at him perceptively, as if appraising every one of his details. He felt odd under the somehow intense gaze the blond somehow managed to pull off. He guessed it was just Kyuubi's threatening aura that made him feel so strange, vulnerable somehow. "Ma, ma... I'm fine." The Jounin smiled languidly.

Naruto continued staring at him silently for a moment, and he seemed to be resonating waves of annoyance as if he knew Kakashi was lying. "Okay," he answered simply, not wishing to persue the topic if the other man was unwilling to paticipate.

The silence, once again, became almost deafening. Kakashi was accustomed to all sorts of scenarios with all sorts of people, but with the Jinchuuriki before him, in any situation, he just felt completely different. _What's with this kid?_ "So, Naruto," he began in a lazy, uncaring sort of tone, acting as nonchalant as possible. Blue eyes pinned back on him as if he were a fly caught in a spider's web. "I don't know much about you," he said, deciding to take the honest approach. Naruto remained stoic. _It should be Sasuke who acts this way, not Naruto... It's disconcerting._ He felt slightly disheartened. Naruto seemed to be the exception to all shinobi - that even the ones with the most heartless of occupations could reflect happiness. Right now, however, the blond seemed to remind Kakashi only of rain or snow. He shivered slightly at the image, but realised it somehow fit the blond. It was strange, seeing as how the blond even managed to _look_ like he reflected sunshine, but when he thought of Naruto... he thought of tempests; storms. He shook himself out of his reverie, surprised that the blond seemed quite complacent instead of impatient. "Why don't you tell me more about yourself? You are going to be my responsibility for quite a while..."

Something rebellious flashed in the blond boy's eyes and a small smirk made its way to his face. "But _sensei_," he muttered, "You already know about me. I'm sure the Hokage debriefed you, did he not? It's simply not safe to have responsibility for a Jinchuuriki." He tilted his head, smirk still in place as he leaned forward. "Such a valuable asset to have with its insurmountable strength... and yet such a dangerous hindrance." His eyes became guarden and he folded his arms. He wanted to give off an imposing, intimidating vibe but only succeeded in making Kakashi think he looked as if he were trying to protect himself. "Besides, don't play stupid," Naruto said, breaking his smug facade and taking on an agitated expression. "You saw me on that mission." He gave Kakashi a revolted glare, mistrust swirling in his eyes, and Kakashi admittedly felt a little guilty.

"Even so," he replied, remaining as calm as he could. "I want to know about you, Uzumaki Naruto." He met Naruto's gaze challengingly, both willing the other to back down first. Finally, growing tired of their staring contest, the blond gave a huff.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, twelve years old, I have blond hair, blue eyes, and I'm a Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi no Kitsune Bijuu." He tilted his head. "That enough?"

"I want to know about Uzumaki Naruto from _Naruto's_ point of view." The Jounin scowled slightly. "Admittedly, yes, I used to listen to the villager's rumours about you..." He felt guilt bubble up inside him when the blond didn't seem at all surprised. _A twelve year old kid shouldn't be used to that treatment..._ "But now I want to hear about you. The real you, not who everyone else thinks you are."

Naruto blinked in surprise, eyes wide in shock, and he looked more like a child than Kakashi had ever saw him. He flushed slightly and put his glare back in place, scoffing at his sensei, but the older man had already witnessed his minor slip up. _Well, I'm not making a very great ANBU right now, am I?_ "Fine, fine..." He frowned, forcefully meeting Kakashi's gaze. _Show no weakness. I must at least act nonchalant. I can't avert my gaze. He'll be suspicious. I'll be unworthy of my rank._ "What I said about ramen is true. I like it. A lot," he said with a nod, missing Kakashi's quirk of the lips. "Before we move on, may I ask you something?" He looked annoyed. The Jounin nodded slowly. "When we're alone, please do not refer to me as a Genin." His brow twitched. "Unless someone is around and within hearing range, so not address me as a Genin." He twitched again. "I don't like to think of myself as that low a rank. I sucked. A lot."

Kakashi couldn't prevent a chuckle from escaping, and waved a hand apologetically when he received a sharp glare. "All right," he replied, "I can agree to that. Carry on."

The blond grumbled, but unfolded his arms and tried to remain still as he reluctantly divulged facts about himself. He flushed, realising he didn't really know what to say. "I..."

The Jounin smiled slightly, noticing the blond was struggling slightly. Deciding to take pity on the kid, he decided to start it off with a question. "Do you _like_ anyone, Naruto?"

"Yeah... Sakura-chan's nice. And Sasuke-yarou's an annoying idiot, but he can be okay sometimes. And..." He trailed off, not wanting to finish with, _You're an okay guy too, Kakashi._

Kakashi chuckled softly. _He may be an ANBU, but he's still such a child._ "I meant... Do you have a crush on anyone?" He tried not to let his amusement show too much.

Naruto blinked in confusion at first before his cheeks darkened. "No," he replied quietly, trying to stop himself from fidgeting nervously.

Kakashi tilted his head. _Most kids his age start liking people. I thought he liked Sakura, but... Well, he is a little emotionally stunted..._ "Let's try something else," he said, noticing Naruto relax slightly when he decided to change the subject. _So, he doesn't like discussing feelings and such... Hmm..._ "What's your favourite fighting method?"

"Taijutsu and Ninjutsu," the blond answered easily.

"Not a big fan of Genjutsu?" the Jounin enquired, thinking of his eye.

Naruto shrugged. "Not entirely, no," he replied honestly. "That, and I'm not exactly talented in the field of Genjutsu." He smiled slightly. "But I've done fine with what I've got."

Kakashi kept that in mind. _Maybe I can teach him some Genjutsu sometime_, he thought, slightly ashamed that he felt a little smug that he knew something the ANBU didn't. "Anything else about your fighting methods? Styles?"

The blond grinned slightly suddenly as a strong breeze flew past, the sakura trees swaying in the wind as a few petals flew up and twirled around their carriage as it rocked from side to side from the force of the strangely strong air. Slowly, the wind died down and the sakura petals fell softly to the ground of their carriage, and some in Naruto's hair. The blond didn't notice, and Kakashi didn't want to tell him.

"Wind is your nature?" the Jounin breathed, truly astonished that such a young person had discovered their element. _I have _got_ to keep in mind that he's not a Genin..._

"Yeah," the blond replied with a sheepish smile. "Was that showing off a bit too much?"

Kakashi smiled lightly. "A bit," he said with a shrug, but chuckled to show he wasn't serious.

"What's yours?" Naruto enquired, attempting to look uncaring, although he was actually interested.

"Fire, earth and lightning," he replied, trying also to sound nonchalant instead of proud.

"Well, aren't you Mr. Overachiever?" the blond mumbled with a small huff, and the Jounin chuckled again.

"You never know," Kakashi murmured, turning to stare out at the dark night sky and the stars illuminating it. "Maybe you'll find you have more."

Naruto glanced at him, surprised by the small words of motivation, and willed himself not to smile. Responding with a hum, he also looked out at the beautiful sky, thinking, _Maybe it's not so bad... making relationships with people..._ He glanced at Kakashi and then steeled himself. _Just don't get carried away. Don't let your bonds become too strong, or you'll be restrained. Don't get too attached... It's happened once before... and I'm still not over that. _He closed his eyes with a small sigh. _Be careful, Uzumaki... You're dropping your guard._

**O-o-O-o-O**

"Well, that was... fun," Naruto muttered dubiously as he hopped out of the Ferris wheel.

"You know you enjoyed it really," Kakashi returned, completely blasé as he flipped open his book.

"Hmm," the blond hummed in response. "I suppose it was a nice break from the fast rides." He tilted his head as he walked along, Kakashi trailing along behind him. He slowed down to let the man reach his side, and then continued walking. "In a philosophical point of view, I guess you'd say you should slow down to smell the roses once in a while, because if you just rush through life you won't enjoy it."

The Jounin looked up from his book to gaze deeply at the Genin - damn it, _ANBU_ - beside him. "Profound," he murmured.

"I try," the Bijuu returned. "Hey," he said, stopping suddenly. Kakashi almost crashed into his arm, suddenly realising they were walking very close together. "What's that?" Naruto enquired, gesturing to a small platform not far from them, where a very toned man was walking around and shouting nonsensical challenging things.

"I believe you fight him to win something," Kakashi replied, glancing at Naruto. "You want a try?"

The blond blinked and glanced at him, and then back at the show off on the platform. "I don't think so," he replied quietly. _The villager's would only accuse me of cheating_, he thought.

Kakashi appraised the ANBU for a moment, his thought path strangely familiar to the blond boy's, and he folded his book shut and stuffed it in his yukata. "I think I'll have a go," he said, strutting forward to the miniature fighting arena. Naruto frowned but followed the silver-haired shinobi willingly, wondering where this was going.

"Who wants to lose next?" the muscled man bellowed, and Naruto twitched at the volume. _Well, he could easily fill the place of a cannon on the battleground..._

"I'll give it a shot," Kakashi's smooth baritone voice cut in, and the small crowd's insane cheering suddenly disippated into a few whistles and yells.

The man laughed in the Jounin's face. "You, old man?" he asked, glancing at Kakashi's silver hair. Naruto sniggered.

"He isn't old," the blond volunteered. "He just went grey early. Stress from having a Genin like me," he offered with a cocky grin, unaffected when the villagers around the platform gave him a glare.

Kakashi twitched. "I'm not old, and I'm not grey either. My hair is naturally this colour," he explained. "Now, let's get on with this. I'd like to win quickly." He leapt up onto the platform with swift precision, landing directly in front of the big man.

"It's your deah wish, old man," the guy said with a hefty shrug. "Shall we?"

"Ready when you are," the Jounin returned in a bored tone.

"Let's go!" the man roared and lurched forward to throw a huge punch at Kakashi's stomach. His big fist made contact, and he grinned cockily, before Kakashi fell apart as water. "A clone?!" the man cried, and gasped suddenly, eyes wide. Naruto caught sight of Kakashi's hand on the man's thick neck. _A pressure point. He should faint now... What the hell?_ His brows drew together when the man leant back and grabbed Kakashi, bodily throwing the man across the arena's platform. The crowd screamed, entertained by the show, and a few more people trailed over, curious about the uproar. Naruto, however, was suspicious. _What's with this guy? Kakashi hit a pressure point... He should be unconscious._ The blond glared at the large man, appraising him. _This doesn't make sense..._

Kakashi was also surprised, but he didn't show it. He continued evading the punches the big guy threw at him, realising that, even with his own abilities, if he were hit by that man's fist, he'd break a few ribs at least. He grunted as he barely avoided a hit, wondering why this random guy who went along with some circus for festivals was almost as strong as him. It was worrisome, and he felt suspicious.

He was broken out of his musings when a fist came down to deliver a blow. Kakashi leapt out of the way at the last minute and appeared below the man, muttering, "Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu!" and emerged from the ground in a hasty flash, swapping places with the big man, who was now buried up to his neck in gravel. Kakashi smiled languidly. "I believe I've won," he said amiably.

The big man growled angrily and sucked in a deep breath. His face reddened and veins popped out on his forehead as he exerted a great force. Kakashi watched him suspiciously, surprised and admittedly confused. He leapt back, astonished, when the man broke through the ground and pulled himself up like a great mammoth. The muscles on his arms were pulsing, and his neck looked weird, veins becoming more visible as they popped out. His eyes became bloodshot as he breathed heavily.

"What...?" Kakashi whispered, one visible eye wide in complete confusion, looking mortified by the display of insane strength. He came back to reality when he saw a fist coming towards him again, and realised he could do nothing but block it. Steeling himself, Kakashi glared darkly at the man as his fist came crashing down. Everything turned black for a moment, until he blinked a few times and he realised he'd been thrown to the farthest wall. Looking up, he saw the big guy on the other side. What had happened...?

The man growled in annoyance and moved to storm over to Kakashi, but found himself caught. "What the hell?" he hissed in anger, and the Jounin found himself a bit befuddled also, until he noticed the thin invisible wire wrapped around the man. Very suddenly, a large stream of fire flashed along the string and wrapped itself around the man, the flames lapping mercilessly at the man's skin. He shouted indignantly before letting out a pained yell and staggering backwards. He let out a sharp sound between a gasp and a grunt and let out an agonised yell before he stumbled and fell to the floor. His eyes were still open, and he was obviously still conscious. He rolled over quickly, trying to put out the flames, which were suddenly put out by a gust of wind.

An ANBU suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of the struggling man. "You," he muttered impassively, "Should not be travelling freely with this circus. I'm taking you with me." He glanced at Kakashi slowly, and the Jounin noticed the stormy grey eyes sparkling as if there were fragments of silver in them. "Are you okay, Hatake-san?" he asked silkily. Kakashi gave a firm nod in reponse, scowling slightly. _I didn't even realise he'd moved..._ The ANBU turned back the the big man and placed a hand on the guy. He whispered something, and the two disappeared in a flash.

**O-o-O-o-O**

"Kakashi, how nice of you to join us," Sarutobi said airily, although his eyes were hard. "Please, take a seat." The Jounin bowed slightly before indulging in the offer and seating himself beside the ANBU beside him. "Well, Naruto informed me of your knowledge..." He glanced at the two of them. "You know he's ANBU."

"Yes," Kakashi answered at length, bowing his head but meeting the Sandaime's eyes.

Sarutobi stood up, glowering down at Kakashi. "You followed him out of the village when he was on an S-ranked mission whilst you are a Jounin."

"Yes, sir," he replied, feeling ashamed, but not regretting his decision.

"You deliberately put yourself and the ANBU Black Ops team in danger by leaving Konohagakure no Sato without permission just to quench your thirst of curiosity? You followed these ANBU all the way to another village without my word, or without informing the Kazekage?" He slammed his hands down on his desk. "Do you realise how that could have damaged our village, Hatake Kakashi? Do you-?"

"Jii-san," the blond cut in, finally removing his mask. He stood and bowed, his stormy eyes fixed upon the ground but glinting dangerously. "I have lectured Hatake on the dangers and repercussions of what he did, and he is aware of them. It was partially my fault. As I am in his Genin team, he noticed me when I had let my guard down and followed me in regards only for my safety." He bowed lower, pale blond hair covering his eyes. "Please blame me, for it is my doing."

"Naruto..." Kakashi muttered, frowning. "It wasn't-"

"All right, boys," the Hokage said, taking his seat again and motioning for Naruto to take his. The blond hesitantly did so, tempestuous eyes fixated upon Sarutobi's. "I understand," he murmured, now appearing more content than furious. "Both of you seem to be progressing in terms of comradery and friendship." He smiled, and chuckled slightly when Naruto blushed. "I'll overlook it this once. Kakashi, you're just lucky that Naruto's close with the Kazekage." He shook his head, and the Jounin glanced at Naruto curiously. "Onto other issues... the festival." He grew serious once again, and Kakashi turned to look at him again.

"My team took the entire circus into custody to investigate. Ibiki was not needed, as they spoke up easily. We took only the big guy and another man into custody. Everyone else was let go," Naruto volunteered.

"Who was the other man?" Sarutobi asked, frowning.

Naruto met his eyes, ferocity and something else, something deeper, swimming in his own. "Utakata," he said softly. Kakashi frowned, searching his mind for the memory of that name. He pondered for a moment before recalling said man's statistics - he was the Jinchuuriki of the six-tailed Raijuu... He glanced worriedly at Naruto.

The Hokage froze in surprise for a moment before taking a deep breath. "Naruto... can I trust you to be in charge of Utakata-san?"

The blond nodded. "I can control myself." _For the most part..._

The Sandaime appraised him momentarily before giving a short nod. "Very well," he said, "Although I would like someone to accompany you when you visit Utakata-san."

Naruto looked up sharply, grey eyes glinting. "Accompany me?" he asked, guarded now.

Sarutobi nodded, seemingly unaffected by the ANBU's obvious discomfort. "Yamato," he called, and the room became silent for a moment before a man emerged from the shadows, when a man dressed in ANBU attire stepped out of the shadows. "Yamato, this is-"

"Uzumaki Naruto," he said with a nod, appraising the Jinchuuriki coldly.

Sarutobi glared warningly at him before turning to the blond with an apologetic smile. "Naruto, this is Yamato. Or Tenzo-"

"Yamato," the man interjected, scowling. "Call me Yamato."

Sarutobi smiled amicably. "He is able to suppress a Bijuu's influence over its host. As such..."

"Yes," Naruto interrupted icily, not wanting the man to elaborate. _This is an insult to my rank and intelligence._ "I understand." He stood. "Am I free to go now? I wish to train with my team."

The Hokage nodded slowly. "Thank you for the report on the incident."

Naruto bowed. "Just try to find out Ookina Yarou's name. Ja, jii-chan. Kakashi." He glanced at Kakashi again, making sure the man was uninjured, before he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I suppose you're free to leave, Kakashi. Yamato, would you like me to debrief you on Uzumaki Naruto's data?" Sarutobi enquired politely.

"I have enough information," the brunet replied calmly, staring at Kakashi in scrutiny and furrowing his brow before returning his gaze to the Hokage. "But thank you very much, Hokage-sama." He bowed.

Sarutobi waved the formality off. "You're both free to go then," he said. "Oh, and Kakashi? The next time you try to impress an ANBU, try not to get a circus arrested."

**O-o-O-o-O**

NARUTO belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.

Okay, guys, I am really, really, _**really**_** sorry that this has been on hiatus for so long! Seriously, I apologise! I've been meaning to pick it up again for a long, long time but never got around to it 'cause I'm a lazy bastard. I promise the next update won't take nearly as long!**

Let's just clarify something here though. This may or may not be shounen-ai. I don't know if Naruto will be paired with a girl, a guy or even if there will be any pairings at all. The poll I took a while ago wasn't the most helpful, because there were three results that were tied. The characters with the top votes for being Naruto's significant other were tied between Sasuke, Kakashi and Itachi. You guys don't wanna make this easy for me, do you? Bahhh. We'll see where it goes, but thankfully this story's focusing mainly on action and not romance, hence the title being _**Prelude to Love**_** and not, well, **_**Current Love**_** or something. :P And the title actually isn't hinting at romance... you'll understand the deeper meaning later... Hehe.**

Utakata is the six tails. He's the one who's been featured playing a flute I believe. Naruto _**will**_** come into contact with **_**all **_**of the other Jinchuuriki eventually... and stuff will happen. :D I'm a prick and I'm not revealing more than that.**

Also, Naruto referred to one of the men as 'Ookina Yarou'. I'm not fluent in Japanese so this may be inaccurate, but it's meant to read 'Big Bastard'. Hehe. Naruto may be of ANBU rank, but that doesn't mean he has to be polite!

_**Next time in PTL**_**: Naruto, accompanied by Yamato, visits Utakata, whilst the nameless man who almost injured Kakashi is interrogated by Ibiki! The Chuunin exams are once again in fruition! It's time for Sasuke's fight, Neji's and Hinata's fight, followed by... Naruto's and a nameless 'Genin'? What? Stay tuned!**


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